Today is the 1-week mark since I started my journey on the Tone It Up Nutrition Plan.  If you've been reading my updates you will know that I started the plan by doing a 5-day slim down.  During that period I was eating a lot of protein as well as fruits and vegetables.  I lost a total of 3.6 pounds.  

Even though I just weighed myself two days ago at the end of the slim down I was due for another weigh-in, which I will be doing every Monday.  I was happy and surprised to see that I had lost another 1.8 pounds, which means all together I've lost 5.4 pounds in one week.  Needless to say, I am definitely happy with the results I've seen so far on this plan!

Along with sharing my progress, I also wanted to share my meals from today so you can get an idea of what a typical day on the plan looks like:

• Meta-D: This is a drink that you have every morning right after waking up in order to jumpstart your metabolism.  Today I chose the Bombshell Spell.
• Breakfast: 1/2 of a grapefruit along with 1 Morningstar Farms "Sausage" Patty and a cup of coffee with creamer.
• Mid-Morning Snack: Banana & a cheese stick.
• Lunch: Leftover roasted brussels sprouts from dinner last night.
• Mid-Afternoon Snack: Homemade stuffed mushrooms.
• Dinner: Mushroom stroganoff & a glass of white wine.

I also went to the gym today and walked on the treadmill for 6 minutes before the stitches in my leg started to hurt.  It probably doesn't seem like much, but it felt good to do anything at all.  Tonight I will be doing an ab routine from YouTube on the Tone It Up channel.  And that's a typical day in the life of a Tone It Up girl!

In case you're getting bored with all things related to Tone It Up, I will be doing my next post on something that is not related to eating, exercising, or losing weight!

Let me know in the comments section if you have any requests!

Yesterday I finished the 5 Days to Beach Babe slim down for the Tone It Up Nutrition Plan.  Overall the plan was very straight forward and simple to understand.  I did find it challenging because of my limited protein options as a vegetarian, but I was still able to stick to the plan for the full 5 days.  I weighed myself this morning and found out that I lost 3.6 pounds in the 5 days I was on the slim down.  I feel like that's a pretty good outcome, especially because I wasn't able to work out for the majority of that time due to having stitches.  

Now that that slim down is over I am ready to start the Tone Up phase of the nutrition plan, which is what I will follow until I reach my goal and am able to transition to the Maintenance phase.  The majority of the recipes that are included in the nutrition plan are geared towards the Tone Up phase, probably because you spend the most amount of time on this part of the plan.  Here is the total number of recipes I received, broken down by type:

• Breakfast: 13 recipes (plus 16 variations of protein pancakes)
• Beverages: 8 recipes (plus some juice recipes that I probably won't use)
• Soups & Salads: 32 recipes
• Sandwiches & Wraps: 19 recipes
• Snacks: 30 recipes
• Entrees: 32 recipes
• Desserts: 15 recipes
• Dressings, Dips & Sauces: 30 recipes

When preparing for this new phase I decided to pick a bunch of recipes I wanted to try.  Then I filled out a homemade meal planning chart to decide when to make each of them.  Here is what the chart looks like:

I figured this was the best way to make sure I could plan ahead for each day and know what I was going to eat instead of winging it and hoping for the best.  This way I could be sure to stick to the plan instead of realizing I didn't have anything I was allowed to eat and having to go off the plan due to lack of preparation.  I also created my own daily chart to keep track of what I eat throughout the day along with my workouts and my water consumption:

The Meta-D is a metabolism boosting drink that you start your day with.  The Booty Call is a 30-minute workout that you do first thing in the morning.  As you can see, I will be eating 5 meals a day and working out twice a day (or combining the two workouts into one longer workout, depending on my schedule).

I took the line above the chart from the nutrition plan.  It says, "I am beautiful.  I can make anything happen and today is the day to make my dreams come true."  I thought it was very inspiring and I hope by looking at it every day I can start to make my own dreams come true! 

Once I get into the swing of this phase I will post my meals for a day so you can see what a typical day in the life of a Tone It Up girl looks like.  In the meanwhile, please let me know if you have any questions I can answer about the plan and whether I think it will be worth it!

Today was day 3 of my 5 Days to Beach Babe slim down using the Tone It Up Nutrition Plan.  I am surprised by how fast this time is going and it feels like I'll be done with the Slim Down phase in no time!  

I have been able to stick to the eating plan pretty religiously and it doesn't feel too hard.  It seems like I did a good job grocery shopping so that I would have a good amount of variety in my meals.  However, I am looking forward to switching to the Tone Up plan on Saturday because there are a ton of recipes I want to try from the nutrition plan.  Speaking of recipes, I spent some time today making an Excel spreadsheet of all the recipes and marking down which meal(s) I am allowed to eat them for.  Once I've started the main phase of the plan on Saturday I will outline how many recipes I received and my thoughts on them.

The only downside to the Slim Down phase is that I haven't been able to work out at all for the past two days, even though I'm supposed to do 30 minutes of cardio each morning and another 30 minutes of toning each afternoon.  I do have a good excuse, though!  I went to the dermatologist yesterday and had two spots removed, one on my stomach and another on my inner thigh.  So right now I'm sporting stitches in two different places!  I figured I should give them a few days to heal before working out, so I'm waiting until they feel like they've healed a little bit before going back to the gym.  I'll have the stitches for two weeks, so I don't think I will want to wait until they are out to start working out again.  I'm just planning on playing it by ear and seeing how I feel as the days go on.

So that's my update for the slim down.  I'll post again once I've transitioned to the Tone Up phase of the plan so I can give you my thoughts on how I think that will go!

Ever since the beginning of the year I have been putting a lot of effort into working out regularly and also eating better.  I was able to lose 10 pounds before my cruise in April, but I am still hoping to keep losing weight and continue getting healthier.  

In an effort to keep up my momentum, I recently purchased the Nutrition Plan from Tone It Up in the Vegetarian version.  I had been thinking of buying  for awhile, but the hefty price tag of $150 kept me from doing it right away.  Ultimately, I decided that the price was worth it when I realized that this could be the tool that pushes me to successfully changing my life.  So I made the plunge on Saturday and spent all day Sunday printing the plan and getting organized in order to start today.  

First of all, here's a list from the Tone It Up website of everything that is included in the plan:

• Tone It Up™ Nutrition Plan. (Regular, Gluten Free, Vegan & Vegetarian)
• Lifetime Access to the Members Only Group (no further cost)
• Lifetime of Free Updates to Plan & New Recipes (no further cost)
• Measurement Guide and Chart to track your progress.
• Our Grocery List to help you make the best choices ~ no matter where you’re shopping
• BONUS 5 Day Slim Down ~ a tasty way to get Beach Ready
• BONUS 7 Day Slim Down our program for photoshoots and events
• Bridal Edition & Wedding Slimdown tips for that special day! Great for bridesmaids, brides and guests.
• All New Editions (past & future) including Fall & Holiday Editions (no further cost)
• Beach Babe Edition ~ a team favorite that’s sweet & tropical!
• Exclusive member coupons & weekly Members Only motivation emails where we share special recipes, tips and featured members.
• Comes as a PDF file for immediate download. You’ll receive all future bonuses & updates as well!  (no further cost)

I was happy that the plan comes in a PDF because I was able to start reading right away and didn't have to wait for a shipment to arrive.  The first thing I did was to save all the PDF's (9 total) to my computer and also put them in Dropbox so I can access them from my iPhone or iPad at any time.  

These are the 9 documents that I received with my purchase:

• Tone It Up Nutrition Plan - Vegetarian
• Beach Babe Edition
• Bridal Edition
• Holiday Update
• Tone It Up Fall Update
• Tone It Up Workout Guide
• Summer Sizzle Plan
• Love Your Body Edition
• Bikini Series Grocery List

So far I have mainly focused on the first two documents because they make up the main plan along with the "Five Days to Beach Babe" plan, which I started today.  They recommend using the 5-day or 7-day slim downs to prepare for a special occasion or to kick-start the plan.  I compared the two and the 5-day one seemed more manageable to begin with.  The last thing I wanted to do was try the harder one and give up after a couple of days because it was too hard!  

Because I am on the 5-day Beach Babe plan, I will describe that plan for now and then take some time to give an overview of the main plan when I start it on Saturday. The "Five Days to Beach Babe" plan mainly consists of eating lots of protein along with a ton of fruits and vegetables.  You also work out twice a day for 30 minutes each time, for a total of 1 hour of workouts a day.  

This morning I went to the gym right after waking up and did interval walking for 30 minutes.  I use an interval timer on my phone to keep track of time as I switch between 1 minute of high intensity walking (a 3.5 on the treadmill) and 1.5 minutes of lower intensity walking (a 3.0 on the treadmill).  I start with a 5 minute warm-up and end with a 5 minute cool down, so in between those I do 8 cycles of high/low intensity for a total of 30 minutes all together.  It might sound complicated, but the interval timer on my phone does all the hard work.  All I need to do is increase or decrease my speed on the treadmill as I follow along!

Later today I will do a couple of Tone It Up toning workouts, either from You Tube or the Beach Babe 2nd Edition workout DVD.

Here are the meals I am eating today so you can see what kind of food is allowed on the 5-day slim down:

• Pre-Workout: Bombshell Spell drink consisting of pineapple juice, apple cider vinegar, honey, and lime juice.  It was actually quite refreshing!
• Breakfast: Slim Down Scramble made with spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, and egg whites.
• Mid-Morning "One Piece": For this you can eat any piece of fruit.  I chose a banana.
• Lunch: I was supposed to eat a wrap made of veggies and protein, but I made a salad out of some broccoli slaw and a fake chicken breast with some homemade almond butter/soy sauce dressing.
• Mid-Afternoon Juice or Smoothie: I am going to make the Slim Down Smoothie, which is made from protein powder, almond milk, water, ice, and cinnamon.
• Dinner: this will consist of tofu for protein along with stir-fry vegetables.  I am debating on whether or not to use a sauce.  I probably shouldn't, but it's going to be very boring without anything on top!
• Evening "One Piece": I have some fresh mango that I'm going to cut up for my evening fruit.

As you can see, I get to eat plenty of food on this slim down!  I don't feel like I'm being deprived of food, but my protein options are pretty limited due to not eating meat.  I have a feeling I will be sick of fake chicken, tofu, and eggs by the time these 5 days are done!

All together I am very excited about starting the Tone It Up Nutrition Plan!  I feel like the plan makes a lot of sense and is regimented enough to get results but not so much that it's a recipe for failure.  I like that I am starting with a 5-day slim down so that I can kick-start my progress.  I am also hoping that by starting out with a strict plan the main plan won't seem so bad!

I will check back in a day or two from now and let you know how things are going.  If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them in the comments section.  I was grateful to find reviews online before making this purchase, so I'd be happy to help anyone else who is debating on whether or not this plan will work for them!

I have wanted to go on a cruise for a really long time, so I was super excited to get the opportunity to take a cruise this year.  Here are some final thoughts now that it's over.

Packing & Organizing:

As you've seen on my blog posts, I am a highly organized planner and tried to account for every potential situation while doing my packing.  Overall, I think I did a good job of only taking things that would be useful.  I used pretty much everything I took with me, except (thankfully) for some of the first-aid stuff.  

I was lucky enough to be in a Junior Suite by myself, so space wasn't an issue on this trip.  However, I still like to be unpacked and feel at home when I'm traveling, so here are some of the ways I made my cabin feel more like home:

• I used a hanging shoe organizer to keep all of my toiletries (and shoes) all in one place and to have them easily accessible while getting ready each day.
• I brought magnetic clips to hang up papers in my room, but ended up using them to hang my necklaces next to the full-length mirror.  This helped me remember to put on the necklaces when getting dressed.
• The Junior Suite came with a full-length cabinet with shelves.  It was very handy for keeping things out of the way and off the vanity area.
• Speaking of the vanity area, it was the perfect place to get ready each day.  I used the drawer to store all of my makeup.

Drink Package:

Before the cruise I decided to splurge and purchase the Ultimate Drink Package, which costs $65 per day and automatically includes a 15% gratuity on all drinks.  I wanted to make sure that I could relax on the trip and not worry about how much I was spending on drinks each day.  

Being the planner that I am, I went online and looked at all the drink menus for Royal Caribbean and made a list of all the specialty drinks I wanted to try.  I ended up with a list of 35 drinks, which is quite a lot for a 5-day cruise!  In the end I was able to try 26 out of 35 drinks on my list!

During the trip I wrote down every drink I had and when I got home I tallied up the total cost.  In the end I was $4.90 shy of breaking even, which is a pretty good deal!

Looking back I am happy I tried the drink package on my first cruise and was able to try that many drinks without worrying about how much each one cost.  Now that I've done it once, I probably won't do it again.  By the end of the trip I felt like I was getting drinks just to meet my "quota" and not because I wanted them.  In the long run, all of the fruity and frozen drinks ended up tasting the same!

Future Cruises:

Before going on this cruise I wasn't 100% sure if I would like it, mostly because people seem to fall into two camps of either loving to cruise or not liking it at all.  It turns out I am in the first camp and absolutely love it!  

I was so sad that this cruise was over that I have already booked my next one!  Nine days after getting off my first cruise I booked another cruise for September.  This one will be a 4-night cruise to the Bahamas and I will be in a balcony room (unless I get another free upgrade to a Junior Suite).  I may end up going by myself on this one, depending on whether anyone else is able to join me or not.  Either way, I am super excited to have another cruise to plan for and pack for!

So that's the end of my trip report!  I think I've covered pretty much everything I wanted to share.  Please let me know if you have any questions that I can answer related to any upcoming cruises you have planned.  A great source of information is Cruise Critic!  The message boards are really helpful and informative, so definitely check them out if you have an upcoming cruise.

Day 9:

On Friday, May 2 I had to work from the condo so I could finish up end of month for my job. I woke up early and got caught up on work emails and then went to lunch with Marisa, Mark, and Cynthia at Steve's Famous Diner, which is right across the street from the condo. 

After lunch I went back to the condo to work for the afternoon. I was done at about 4:30, so I relaxed while I waited for everyone to get back from their activities. That evening we went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant called Maria Bonita. After dinner we went back to the condo to play a game of Phase 10 and Mark won. 

Day 10:

On Saturday, May 3 the weather was cloudy and rainy, so we didn't get to play miniature golf like we wanted to. Instead the girls went to the movie theater to see The Other Woman. I liked the movie and I thought it was really funny. We went shopping after the movie and I bought a souvenir t-shirt, a really cool hand-made candle, and a pair of Tory Burch sunglasses. The guys picked us up and we went back to the condo and played another game of Phase 10. This time Marisa won the game. 

When we were done playing we went to dinner at a seafood restaurant called Down the Hatch.  It was really cool to sit right on the riverfront. Yet again, we went back to the condo and played more Phase 10 until everyone got tired and went to bed.  

Day 11: 

Our last day of the trip was Sunday, May 4.  Everyone else laid by the pool and got some sun.  I've already gotten too much sun on this trip, so I stayed inside and relaxed.  The girls went for a quick lunch at Ruby Tuesday and then we went back to the condo to finish packing.  We left the condo at 2:45 to head to Orlando.  About an  hour later we got to the airport and went our separate ways.  Cynthia was in a different terminal and I was in a different gate from everyone headed to Indianapolis.   

Overall, this was a great trip!  It was nice to have time before and after the cruise to hang out and relax because our time on the cruise was really busy.  I am happy that I was able to do and see so much on the cruise, but it did make the time go by really fast and the cruise was over too soon.

I will have some final thoughts and some exciting news in tomorrow's post.  Stay tuned!

Day 7:

The next day was Wednesday, April 30 and our last full day on the ship.  I had ordered room service the night before for breakfast at 8am and ate it out on the balcony again.  I could feel a tradition starting for eating breakfast on my balcony on sea days, hopefully one that will last for future cruises too!

Again, the room service coffee wasn't that great, so I went to the cafe and got a mocha. Then I went to the casino and played slots until I won almost $200!  After that I went back to the room and got on my bathing suit so I could meet everyone at the pool. I stopped at Squeeze, my favorite bar, to get a drink and then walked over to the main pool area to meet my friends.  Later I got another drink at the Sky Bar, which is one of two bars near the pool.  They also had a bingo game going for a $500 prize.  I was only one spot away when two other people won. 

After leaving the pool, we went to get lunch at the buffet before going to the ice show at 2pm. I had read online that it was a good idea to have reservations for the ice show, but when we go there no one was checking for reservations.  Everyone just grabbed the first spots they could find.  I liked the ice show.  I thought it was really impressive what the skaters were able to do in such a small space. 

After the ice show I walked around and took some more pictures of the ship. Then I went to my room to get ready for dinner. It felt nice to be able to take my time instead of rushing like I had the two nights before after each of our excursions. I was ready for dinner earlier than I needed to be, so I went back to the casino again and didn't really win or lose anything. 

At dinner I gave thank you cards to our waiter, Cesar, and our assistant waiter, Adrian.  We walked to the back of the ship after eating and saw the last few minutes of sunset.  After that we went to go see Saturday Night Fever, which was good but I still liked In The Air better.  

After the show everyone else went to bed, but I still wanted to get some nighttime shots of the pool area.  I also still had a casino slip for $36, so I went back to the slots to use it up. I was down to about $4 when I won the progressive for $436 on the candy slot machine!  It was a great way to end the night and the trip!  After that I finally headed back to my room and finished packing for our departure the next day. 

Day 8:

The next morning was Thursday, May 1 and we met at 8:30 at the buffet and then got in line at 9:20 to get off the ship. There were delays at immigration, so we waited a couple of hours to be let off the ship. I did get pulled aside at immigration to pay duties on the jewelry I bought in Cozumel, but it was less than I expected, so I didn't mind doing it. 

And then we were on our way back to Daytona. We stopped at Applebee's for lunch and got back to the condo at around 6:30pm.  That night we at guacamole, frozen pizzas, and queso dip for dinner and played some Phase 10.  Todd won the game and then we went to bed.

Day 6:

Our second port day was on Tuesday, April 29. On this day it was only four of us on the excursion together: me, Marisa, Mark, and Todd. Everyone else went and did their own excursions. Cozumel has a dock, so it was much faster to get off the ship than it was with using the tender in Belize. Cozumel is on an island, so in order to start our tour from the mainland we had to take a 45-minute ferry ride to Playa Del Carmen. The ferry ride was pretty rough with a lot of people looking like they were feeling sea sick by the end. Thankfully my Dramamine worked and I felt totally fine!  

When the ferry landed we went straight to a charter bus that would take us to Tulum. Our first tour guide, Julio,  told us about Mayan civilization while we were on the bus. We made a quick restroom break and also shopped for some souvenirs.  I found a really cool Mayan mask to hang somewhere in my apartment.  

We finished the drive to Tulum and our other tour guide, Arnando, guided us through the ruins telling us all kinds of interesting stuff about what we were seeing. After about an hour of listening to him we were given 20 minutes to explore on our own. We wandered over to the back of the main temple and looked out over the cliff to the ocean below. It was really pretty!

Once we left the ruins it was time for us to re-trace our steps and take the bus back to the ferry that would return us to Cozumel.  Our first stop was Diamonds International.  We didn't find anything we liked at that location, so we walked four blocks to the next store. I ended up finding a pair of earrings that I fell in love with and Marisa also found a pair she really liked!

Poor Todd had been sitting around waiting for us the whole time we shopped, so we decided he needed an authentic Mexican margarita with chips & guacamole. We went to Pancho's Backyard and then caught a taxi to get back to the ship. We hurried and got ready for dinner and met back up at the dining room. 

After dinner we went to the bar and all did a lemon drop shot.  I went to the casino for a little while and then I went to bed. According to my Fitbit we walked 6 miles this day, so I was ready to relax! 

Tomorrow I will share pictures from our last day at sea.  This was when I took most of my pictures of the ship, so you will finally get to see more of Liberty of the Seas!

Day 5:

On the morning of Monday, April 28 we arrived in Belize, our first port of the cruise.  There isn't a dock in Belize City, so the ship had to stay out in the water and we had to use tender boats to get to and from land.  The whole process of getting everyone off the ship took a long time, so even though we met with our excursion group at 8:30, we didn't start our tour until about 10.  Once we got off the tender boat we got on another boat to tour the river for the first part of our excursion. 

We saw manatees, crocodiles, howler monkeys, and iguanas while we were on the river tour. The only bad thing was that it was 96 degrees and we were all melting on the boat!!  I kept applying sunblock all day long but still ended up getting some redness because we were in the sun all day long. 

After the river tour we stopped for lunch and then got on a bus that would take us to  go see the Mayan ruins called Altun Ha.  We even climbed to the top of one of the temples, which was really cool! 

After we were done at the ruins we got back on the bus and then took another tender boat back to our ship.  We got back to the ship just in time for dinner, so we all met in the dining room and ate together.  After that we went to see a band play and then went to bed.  

Tomorrow I will write about our day in Cozumel, which included more Mayan ruins along with some jewelry shopping!

Day 4:

Sunday, April 27 was our first full day at sea.  The picture above is my room service breakfast that I ate out on my balcony.  Once I was done eating, I had a craving for a good coffee, so I went down to the promenade for a mocha at the Promenade Cafe. 

I wandered through the promenade but none of the shops were open, so I went down to the casino.  I started with $50 and at one point got up to over $150!  I was excited to have tripled my money in an hour and a half, so I called it quits and went back to the promenade where they were having a watch sale. 

I didn't find any watches I wanted, so I went back to my room. Marisa had left a message that her and Cynthia were headed to the pool, so I changed into my bathing suit and went to meet them. They had gotten chairs by the pool for all of us, so we hung out by the pool for about an hour. 

Then it was time to head back to the casino for a slot tournament.  I paid $25 to enter and didn't make it to the top ten, otherwise I would have been eligible for the top prize of a cruise for two...oh well!

After the slot tournament we all went to the buffet for lunch. I was really tired after lunch, so I went back to my room to soak my feet and take a nap. Before it was time to meet everyone for dinner I went down to a Swarovski sale and found earrings that match the ring I bought myself for my 30th birthday!  I wore them to dinner that night to show them to everyone. 

Dinner was at 6 and then there was a Cirque du Soleil type show called "In the Air" at 9pm, so we went and got seats for that after eating. The show was really good!  

I was pretty tired after the show, so I went back to my room to get some rest before our excursion that we had the next day.

That's it for our first sea day!  Tomorrow I will share stories and pictures from our first port in Belize and our excursion to the Mayan ruins called Altun Ha.