Procrastina-a-a-a-ation

I really really really need to get some work done and do my laundry and vacuum. So I will post here instead!

• Sometimes I feel like if Alwyn Cosgrove ever met me in person he would hold my head down in a big bowl of frosted flakes til I drowned in sugary goodness. Andrew Heffernan has a cheery funny blog that makes me feel better. It's insightful and educational and motivational and hilarious. What else could you want (ok, maybe some zombies)?
• So here are some zombies
  

• I really hated "The Valet". It really looked like it was going to be funny. Granted, I thought they would wring out the old 'ubermodel moves into squalid bachelor pad, hilarity ensues', but instead Alice Taglioni floats through the movie like an angel... an angel with a big bucket of spackle to smooth over any bumps that might sprout into amusing situations. Then the ending looks like it's gearing up for something madcap and instead, a speech and splat! A figurative pie-in-the-face. Fini! so sad!
• I also hated "Superbad", it was like "Clerks" annoying little brother... and this is from someone who genuinely enjoyed "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" and nearly threw up laughing during "Talladega Nights". I liked the cops, they were funny (he's...the..fastest...kid..in..the...world)
• Of course I liked "28 Weeks Later". I was trying to figure out how a 20-second virus would work. It would take longer than that to reach and short out the amygdala so I thought that maybe it would work on the adrenals. But in that case some people would just go about wringing their hands saying, "I'm so stressed!" or "Gosh, the coffee sure is strong this morning!" instead of rampaging around eating human flesh.
  

Year in Review

Looking back....

• highest weight: 139, lowest weight 125.4
• became healthy enough to get back in the gym
• took up taekwondo
• took up skate-skiing
• freed self from Diet Pepsi addiction
• visited Paris
• single for the longest time ever and really enjoying it
• four stitches and a calf tear

What I learned:

• 90% is diet, the other half is exercise
• 90% means 90-100%, not 85% or 60%
• Work on task oriented goals until they become habits
• if I’m tired or feel cravings I should try to understand what the signals are telling me (without giving in to the cravings)
• When I start thinking I’m strong and conditioned I should take up a new sport or activity
• I don’t like ultimate goals. I don’t understand what the basis for this antipathy is, maybe I feel thwarted if steps aren’t accomplished according to schedule, maybe it’s childish rebellion, maybe I don’t like the word “goal”. Whatever! It’s not like I’m a slacker, I’m working toward my Ph.D and my black belt and I am clear on what I need to accomplish to get there, but I don’t really like to see them as “Goals” with sparkly stars around them. To me they are inevitable if I keep chipping away by being consistent and diligent. So that’s how I’m going to approach fitness and target body composition, my “success” is inevitable with consistency and diligence.
• I do have dreams (maybe that’s how I’m viewing “goals”). Wouldn’t it be cool to do conservation work at Monterey Bay or San Diego? I’d love to do the program to be an internationally certified TKD instructor. It would feel great to be rock-hard, wiry ball of vibrant health when I hit 40 (gack!)

So 2008 is upon us already so this is going to be the year of Optimum Health – Mental and Physical. Optimum diet fuels intense activity which will result in enhanced mental health and awesome body composition.

Stuff I need to work on:

• Don’t look at crappy food as special treats.
• Be honest. I have been looking the other way as I dump chemical creamer into my decaf. If I have to stop drinking coffee, then so be it. No cheating, it’s only hurting me if I ingest poisonous crud and pretend it’s ok to make an exception. A good cup of coffee with half and half will go nicely with a 10% meal.
• Honor thy workout schedule without killing thyself. Get up when the alarm goes off and get into the gym. If after the warmup I still want to curl up under the bench and cry, it’s ok to walk, watch ESPN highlights from the rowing machine, or kick the heavy bag, just do something for an hour.

2008 is going to be the year when I get it done, I've been chipping away for just about a year now and I'm healthy and armed with PN and I'm going to make it happen and enjoy the journey.

Here's wishing you and your loved ones all the joy, laughter, love and health you can stand in the New Year!!

and here's a lovely pic of where I've been skiing

What are you eating?

So I was thinking about two things: the BBC show “You Are What You Eat” and the book The 120 Year Diet.

The 120 Year Diet is the basis of the Calorie Restriction thing and most people have probably written it off because all anyone every pays attention to is the part about restricting your intake by 60% or whatever. The other equally important aspect of the program is nutrients. You want a huge nutrient to calorie ratio. Also, any food has nutrient deficiencies. The more you eat that food, the more the deficiencies are magnified, so it is important to VARY your food sources. The most useful parts of the book are the tables where high-density sources of all kinds of nutrients are listed. Did you know white mushrooms have huge amounts of certain amino acids? Here I thought mushrooms were the marshmallows of the vegetable world.

The recipes are not the “Salad: combine 14g lettuce and ½ a diced radish. Enjoy!” which you might expect. You actually have to eat a monstrous amount of food to get your calories in. They use a lot of ingredients, are vegetarian and low on protein, but if you throw a bison burger on top, you have a super healthy PN meal idea.

YAWYE is where a bony nutrition harridan puts obese Britons on a terrible 8 wk detox diet and they end up losing a lot of weight, become visibly healthier, and gain an appreciation for nutritious food and activity. Anyway – one method YAWYE uses to shock the chubby is to pile a table full of everything they ate over the course of the week. The culprits are horrified over how much food they crammed into their bodies in just 7 days.

I thought it would be fun to start my own virtual table and make a list and then add it all up at the end. A few cookies and sweeties per day look innocuous, but at the end of the week it’s a whole carton. It’s also a new way to record my food which makes me really conscious again of what I’m eating. The goal is also to be increase the variety of foods I eat because it’s too easy to get on autopilot and live on the same few easy recipes over and over.

Some Sunday wisdom

Was reading Ryan Andrews' blog and came across a most effective health and fat-loss tip: DON'T EAT CRAP.

It's stupid that I forget obvious things like this. I blame this time of year when all sorts of seasonal goodies appear, but then all sorts of non-seasonal mundane goodies also appear and end up going down the hatch as well. Indeed, I can totally see the damage and a shadow of my former backroll is visible. BUT - mistakes usually have some sort of useful message hidden in them. In this case, it's the idea that seasonal sweets are tempting because they only appear around the holidays. Coincidentally, the holidays arrive just about the time I've gotten into the groove of eating 6-7 times per day and gotten a bit lazy and autopilot about eating, meaning I've been looking at the same protein and veggies in the same boring combinations for weeks now. Of course all the crazy stuff on the potluck table is going to be irresistible, my tastebuds crave excitement. This all emphasizes the importance of variation in one's diet. I'm trying an experiment! More on that later.

One good thing about all the cheating is that I think I raised my calorie intake enough that my appetite has come back. Welcome back, old friend. Don't eat crap and I'll try to keep things interesting.

There was a weird incident yesterday too. I avoid buying and bringing stuff home that will tempt me, but when my brain is whining I just say, "Fine, go ahead and get changed and warm up the car and drive out to the store and buy it and bring it home and cook it." and I never take myself up on the offer.... except yesterday. I went all the way out and got french bread pizza and a diet pepsi. It tasted pretty good, but it just made me wonder what the heck is up. I haven't been good about taking my supps so I refilled my pill sorter and will make a concerted effort this week to tighten things up.

In other news - I went skiing again. I went all the way down to the lake, around the lake, and back to the ski hut. The lake was good because it was FLAT and gave me a chance to practice. I actually got warmed up enough that I was able to ski for much of the long slog back up to the start. There were other people out, but they never caught up to me so they must be pretty bad skiers too.

Otter Soup

Nay, not soup made from otters! “Otter” as in, “I otter eat more kale” or “I otter used up that zucchini before it goes bad”.

I had been whining earlier about not wanting to eat salads when it’s cold, about eating protein bars regularly, and not having any ideas for snacks. Then the doctor suggested that I get more zinc and vitamin A. So I thought I would put all that in the food processor and dump it in a pot, literally!

Soup can be a great snack, it’s warm and filling and is also forgiving and flexible. There are all sorts of things you can hide in there to get your nutrition. So here was the train of thought -

• Pumpkin: vitamin A, high fiber, good either savory or sweet
• Kale: vitamin A and fiber. I have been a bit off of it since I got a stomach ache from eating it dehydrated when I had the flu.
• Ground turkey: blech! Dark meat turkey has zinc AND vitamin A, in soup it’s just chewy bits
• Zucchini: How old is this one?!? Oh well, it is green and firm and likely edible.
• Celery: under duress I eat celery and actually enjoy it, then I buy a few hearts and they fester in the fridge until I throw them out. Celery has all sorts of health benefits and is totally inoffensive in soup
• Carrots: there were broken and odd sized pieces left from the last bag
• Onion: all sorts of health benefits and a good base for soup
• Red wine: there was a bottle of cooking wine in the fridge with about 1/4c left
• Turkey bacon: it was getting freezer burned because I hate the smell when it fries. Pumpkin loves bacon.
  

So them’s the guidelines for Otter Soup:

• nutrient dense things
• things you don't care for, but ought to eat more of
• lurking leftovers that need to be consumed
• yummy things

You could probably add a “vibe” like 5-spice powder, taco seasoning, Italian herbs, curry powder, etc. If you throw a bunch of stuff you hate into a pot, you will get toxic sludge.

This batch came out AWESOME. I thought the pumpkin might be weird, but you can't really taste it, it just adds some color and a creamy texture to the soup. I didn't even need to add spices. And now I have my tasty PN compliant snack!

Sorry Honey it's Thursday

Wednesday 12/19/07
11:30 – 5AM wake
7:00 paprika chicken, tea
9:00 ½ protein bar, orange
11:30 chicken club sandwich
3:00 apple, ostrim
6:00 buffalo patty in veg sauce, 2 cookies

Thursday 12/20/07
4:30 wake
5:30 Lift, practice patterns
7:00 oatmeal, pb, met drive, orange
10:00 orange, boiled egg, biscotti, choco chip cookie, coffee
12:30 bison, veg sauce
3:00 meatloaf ranch burger, cabbage
5:30-7:30 TKD class and breaking class
8:00 bison, veg sauce over shredded red cabbage, candy

Really physically tired today so I struggled thru the lifts and then rounded out my hour practicing patterns for the upcoming belt test. You’re supposed to focus on form, of course, but also on power so patterns are surprisingly strenuous. Then this evening I went to class for an hour following by board-breaking class. I didn’t break for the last test because of the calf tear so tonight I had to break for the upcoming test and for the previous test and managed to do them both on the first try! Go, me.

For some reason everybody gets all worried about form. To some extent, proper form gives you maximum power, but breaking is generally ugly and functional. Plus, we weenies tend -- if anything -- to break too hard and there’s no graceful recovery when you have to yank your foot out of the board-holder or your instructor’s solar plexus.

I keep getting into the candy and cookies and holiday treats left out. There's a little table by the lab door where you can leave your coffee or water and people have been baking like fiends and leaving cookies galore. Cookies are merely cookies, hardly flabworthy. I need to focus on eating clean so I can just enjoy the parties coming up...

Bad music and good communication

4:30 wake
5:30 Lift, Whey + Waxy maize
7:00 paprika chicken, tea
9:00 ½ protein bar, orange
11:30 paprika chicken, carrots
2:30 ostrim, apple
5:30 ½ chicken panini
6:30 TKD 1h
8:00 fudge

Y’know what’s sort of odd about iTunes? They take great pains to put EXPLICIT in red next to any song that has even remotely questionable lyrics, they carefully “*” out letters in the titles, but then you get your receipt and, whoops! All the letters are back! lol

I just noticed this because I bought a load of songs by the Queers who have fun poppy melodies with “whoah-oh’s” and handclapping laced with f-bombs galore. Sort of like the Dead Milkmen but (more) puerile and profane. Years ago I saw them at the Middle East in Cambridge because the New Bomb Turks were opening for them (along with some other bands). Everybody started and closed their sets with “This Place Sucks” and a fine time was had by all.

I was doing pretty well today until I was rooting in the freezer for some meat to defrost and I came across the other half of a chicken panini I had eaten over the weekend. I argued with myself and finally defrosted it and grilled it in the Foreman. Then when I got back from TKD I got into a batch of fudge I had made over the weekend for an upcoming party. Usually when I see stuff like that I don’t really get the urge to eat it. So rather than berate myself I pondered what was going on. Duh, PMS again. I’m going to add in some starch for my post-WO meal for a few days and see if things get back on track. It’s just my body’s way of saying, “FEED ME I NEED MORE ENERGY, DOOFUS.” I’m trying to listen more. In the past I would steamroller through temptations and feelings of exhaustion and it got me headed in totally the opposite direction. I have to realize that laziness, white starchy things and sugar aren’t normally appealing to me (pasta-abuse issues aside) so when candy looks tasty or I sleep through an alarm it’s the body’s desperate attempt to tell me I need to pay attention.

Monday

4:30 wake
5:30 Lift, HIIT, Whey + Waxy maize
7:00 egg beaters, omega egg, salsa, tea
10:00 ½ protein bar, orange
12:30 paprika chicken
3:00 ostrim, apple
6:00 scallops & broccoli in peanut sauce, sm piece fudge

Not sure what’s going on, I look puffy and my weight is all the way back up to 128, but my skinfold is down 1mm. Probably stupid PMS again. My energy is all weird which disturbs my sleep and the weird dreams don’t really help. There was something about a meteor and a DIY show with people in superhero costumes or something. It’s a little exhausting to wake up with your brain raging on by itself full of nonsense.

125.8 and TLJ

Late: wake
Bfast: teriyaki chicken, garlic mashed cauliflower (that’s the last of it)
Lunch: meatloaf ranch burger, sautéed zucchini
3:00 peanuts
4:15 ½ prot bar, sm orange, cacao nibs
6:00 salmon, rice, broccoli

I thought I had rebounded a few pounds, but I was only 125.8 yesterday (up .4lb from my lowest) so I guess I haven’t undone all the progress I made while I had stomach flu (kidding!). I think all the salt and dairy in the Caesar salads was making me retain water because I was down 3lb from the day before.

Finally saw both “No Country for Old Men” and “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada” (also “Darjeeling Limited”. Not all at the same time) both featuring the awesome Tommy Lee Jones and the starkly beautiful tough-love of the Texas desert. I guess in “Estrada” TLJ journeys unflappably through the landscape, driven by a promise, dragging along the reluctant Mike Norton until he finally surrenders to his unexpected fate. And “No Country”… you just have to go see it to appreciate the absolute perfection of it all. Don’t watch the trailer or you’ll just be like, “What’s with that dude’s hair?”. It’s hard to explain the total perfection of this movie….There are no Coen-esque triple-crosses, no taglines that stick with you like, “What’s the rumpus” or “Pancake house”. Irony, clever symbolism, poetic justice and quirk in other movies become as glaring as billboards (Hi. I am the director, please notice I am brilliant) when they stand beside “No Country”. Sure, there’s flawlessly cast characters, microscopic detail and interesting camerawork, blah blah, but they don’t call attention to themselves, they just all wind around and carry you as the film flows inexorably to its conclusion. Go see, NOW, Go go!

This is not me

5:30 wake
6:30 HIIT, walk, stretch
7:15 teriyaki chicken over garlic mashed cauliflower (I’m addicted, I want this for every meal), orange
9:00 ½ protein bar, orange
12:00 X-C ski “race”
1:00 garlic mashed cauliflower and meatloaf ranch burger
5:30 burger & fries whilst watching “Darjeeling Limited” (highly recommend)
9:00 SF pudding

Hoo boy, I was planning on lifting today but I have massive DOMS all down the posterior chain. My pecs are sore from pressing and my arms are sore from punching…. And it feels awesome! Love it. I went to the gym just to do cardio for the 2nd time this week which must be a record, ha!

On second thought, maybe it doesn’t feel so great. Today was the 30th annual “dress like an idiot and ski in a circle” competition to determine the 2007 Ski Champion (my team decided to be relevant so we dressed as rabid animals). To be ski champion you ski the loop once in one direction and once in the other and the person whose times are the closest wins! The issue is that there is a big hill so it’s basically impossible (and pointless) to try and time yourself, everyone just skis however and winning has nearly nothing to do with skill or speed.

Speaking of technique, I just taught myself how to skate-ski last Saturday and I haven’t been on the trail since then. Skating at its best is graceful, effortless-looking (picture a lanky Scandinavian in brightly colored tights). At its worst, it’s a flapping wobbling disaster (stumpy Asian dressed like a rat). I was doing pretty well on Saturday, but I didn’t have dozens of bizarrely dressed colleagues thundering past me. It took me a while to get my stride and then I quickly realized that my arms and legs were already totally exhausted from lifting and HIIT. And now it hurts to turn my head or laugh let alone walk and sit and do all those good things.

Thursday update!

4:30 wake
5:30 Lift, punch heavy bag
7:00 protein pancake (omega egg + 1 scoop prot powder), orange, tea
10:00 ½ protein bar (rushing off to vet)
1:00 salad w/ meatloaf ranch burger (didn’t finish)
3:30 apple, carrots, metabolic drive
5:30 (hungry!) teriyaki chicken, garlic mashed cauliflower
6:30 TKD 1H
8:00 SF pudding cup

Went to bed a little late last night because I was watching “Project Runway” and I flaked my bedtime and I had to work on my Rocky the Rabid Christmas Raccoon costume for Friday. I look more like a rat because I couldn’t figure out how to put the white part on my mask. I expended energy on a bandy tail so at least I can show it and explain that I'm supposed to be a raccoon. I crocheted the whole thing so I won't injure myself falling on it.

Bratski catski let me sleep in til 4AM! I just did a bunch of big heavy compound moves at the gym and then punched the heavy bag to round out my hour. I feel very chipper and cheerful I think from the combo of sleep and not doing Afterburn. She’s pretty mad because of the vet visit, normally she likes to ride in my lap, but on the return trip she hopped into the passenger foot area and pouted for awhile. My mom is convinced the troopers are going to pull me over when they see a little cat-face in the window, but she’s very quiet in my lap whereas she will yell if she has to ride in the carrier so I figure it’s less distracting.

Only three other adults showed up to TKD so it was a tough class. The latest torture device is a phone book wrapped in duct tape. One partner holds it against their chest and the other punches it as hard as they can. I got paired up with a boy (as opposed to a 10yo girl) so now I’ll have a phonebook-shaped bruise on my torso to go with my black knuckles.

Updates from Vvardenfeld

I have a HINT I have seen nowhere else for the Vow of Silence Pilgrimage.
I mean, seriously, do you think Bethesda wants you to freakin' WALK to Dagon Fel from Temple?!? Just take your vow, go around the corner, leave a thingy thing at the Shrine to Stop the Moon and levitate to Sheogorath. Be sure to bring plenty of crossbow bolts for the Cliff Racers and take a spin over Red Mountain to buzz the zombies, they love it!

You: what the hell are you talking about?

Me: You flatter me with your attention, Outlander!

Disturbo the Anti-Sleep Cat II

5:30 wake
6:15 HIIT on bike, heavy bag intervals
7:30 2 omega eggs, ½ zucchini, feta, salsa, kiwi
10:00 after all that I realize I've run out the door without my food.... coffee, sm piece gingerbread, 1/2 protein bar
12:45 chicken caesar salad w/ croutons picked out
4:00 ostrim, lg apple
7:00 teriyaki chicken, garlic mashed cauliflower
9:00 same as 7:00

OK, I’m alive, I haven’t really been slacking or lured by the temptation of xmas cookies. The cat has come completely unhinged, mentally, and gets up every 2 hours (max) and does the banshee shriek or she gets obsessed with drinking out of the tub or going downstairs and hollers about it. This all means that I haven’t been getting any sleep which makes it hard to get up at stupid o’clock to do an Afterburn workout.

I’m not sure what’s wrong, maybe her thyroid tumors have suddenly gotten worse or there’s something wrong with her medication. They gave me generic methimazole once which she couldn’t absorb and she was a total crackpot then too. I doubled her dose and she didn’t turn into Zombie Girl, but she still got up a few times a night. Last night I gave her a triple dose (desperation) which she tolerated just fine and was more normal. Anyway, we have an appointment with the vet tomorrow morning. I still haven’t gone to the doctor, but I will rush off to the vet at a moment’s notice.

Being woken up by a Siamese scream is awful, you can literally feel your cortisol spike. I have no idea how humans have managed to reproduce. If I were a cave-lady a couple of sleepless nights would probably convince me to leave the offspring in the woods, but maybe that’s just my (abject lack of) maternal instinct.
So bad sleep = reduced workout probability = low appetite = lethargy = no grocery shopping = no food = missed meals. I haven’t really been eating badly, just given the choice between Scrounging for Something Healthy vs. Not I tend to not eat. I’ve rebounded a couple of pounds that way and I can see it in the spare tire.

I really don’t want to limp into the home stretch and feel bad on vacation so I have some modifications:
1 party per week for the next few weeks which will be the one cheat meal in lieu of 10% meals
No starch except for WO waxy maize
2 fruit per day max
As much veg as I can stuff in
Lift 4 days per week
HIIT 4 days per week
TKD 2+ days per week
Other activities such as X-C skiing (we got snow, huzzah)

I think I will look for something other than Afterburn. Being a wimp I think I pace myself a little to get through the monster sets and I’d rather just go all out on a upper/lower superset.

Trying Tuesday

4:30 – 7:00 wake
7:30 turkey sausage casserole
10:00 strawberry metabolic drive (forgot to eat my fruit)
12:00 kung pao chicken, cauliflower, satsuma
1:30 the rest of lunch
3:00 raw cashew, cacao, MD smoothie
5:30 salmon w/ miso glaze
6:30 TKD 1h

I think maybe the lack of daylight is starting to get to me and I should make more of an effort to get outside during lunch. I was really soundly asleep when the alarm went off and then I felt awful when I tried to get up so I decided I would sleep a little more and then work out at home… Ha! Never bargain with yourself when you’re tired because you’re always lying. I will go to TKD tonight and now I’m feeling guilty so there’s no way I’ll skip cardio tomorrow, right? Right?
Was a bit discouraged this morning and feeling like a puffy, weary, frustrated and unmotivated pig. It’s the end of the semester, it’s the end of the year, it’s the home stretch of my 20 week body-improvement project and I’m just tired. But, y’know, even if I “quit” I’d still eat the same way and keep going to the gym. I think the only difference would be that I wouldn’t get down on myself for missing workouts.

I’ve come a long way since last December. I bought a bikini with boy-shorts bottoms two summers ago as incentive to regain my health and the first time I took a picture with them I had to jump to get them up and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get them off. Now I can just slip them on and lace them up with extra room in the waist. I know it took me 12 months to do what normal people could do in 3 months, but time passes and progress is progress. I probably won’t be where I want to be until this summer, but I’ll get there eventually.

It's Christmas in Balmora

I've been playing "Morrowind" again. One of my favorite stupid things to do is to collect any lit candle or lantern that isn't tied down, take it home and line my house like holiday lights. You may say, "Hey, that's not your house, it's Dura gra-Bol's house!" But I just carried out the contract like an obedient little Fighter's Guild sheep and then the house was empty so now it's MINE. I actually like Fast Eddie's house better because it's more convenient, but then I'd have to pick a fight with him. Then you might say, "Go play outside!" or "Make some friends, dork!" and I DID and they all gots edjumucated and moved away, so there.

Goji and Nibs

4:30 wake
5:30 whey + waxy maize, Afterburn PIII day1
7:00 turkey sausage casserole, coffee, sm potato
10:30 2 satsumas, boiled egg
12:00 beef stew, spinach
3:30 Met Dr, greens powder
6:00 kung pao chicken, steamed cauliflower
8:00 goji berries, cacao nibs

Felt much stronger today when lifting, maybe from the pig-out last night or the waxy maize or from not being sick anymore. Slept ok the last few nights because I held off serving ‘dinner’ to the cat until I was ready for bed. Then the food-coma kept her quiet for most of the night.

Also went to the health food store and they had cacao nibs and goji berries which I've been dying to try. The Nibs are weird, they're almost like coffee beans, but have a softer bite and considering they smell like chocolate and taste like bitter baking chocolate they are weirdly addictive. The goji berries are really good, they kind of look like dried rose hips and they're sweet and chewy with tiny seeds inside.

Sunday 12/2/07

Turkey sausage casserole
Turkey meatloaf burger, peas
Peanuts, satsumas
Berry/chocolate/PB/rice protein shake
Dinner out: steamers, Caesar salad w/ salmon, sourdough bread, decaf, ½ brownie

I was actually doing really well today, then I had a snack, went to a concert with my Mom and then out to dinner. And I was doing well, really really well until my dish was late and there was a huge bowl of steamers in garlic/white wine/butter/lemon/shallot sauce and a basket of hot sourdough bread in front of me. I thought had this past week hadn’t been that great and how I said I was going to focus and how I’d have to write this down for all to see. And then I caved. Sourdough crust dipped in the steamer juice was really really good.

You know what's a really funny movie I would never publicly admit to loving? "Malibu's Most Wanted". I have to watch it when it's on cable, or at least the part with the line "Damn, fool! You hit my house!" I love TV. I know it's supposed to stunt my mental growth, make me antisocial and fat, but I love it. I guess I don't usually sit and watch, just have it on as background noise or to distract me from odious tasks like folding laundry. I do sit through "Torchwood".... season finale with Dr. Who tie-in?!? BOooooooooOOOOOOOooooo! Hisssssssss!

Five weeks left

Saturday
Turkey sausage casserole
Beef & green bean stir fry
Peanuts and Satsuma orange
Scallops w/ pecan/garlic crust, Satsuma oranges, coffee
3:30 HIIT, LISS (60m total)
6:00 healthy dinner w/ starch

As you can probably tell, they have those crates of tiny oranges at the grocery store, hooray winter! They are a little too easy to eat and I really need my veggies, but otherwise, am on track for today.

In other news, I sorted my yarn stash. There’s really only (yes sir, yes sir) 3 banker’s boxes full, but there was this growing pile of plastic bags behind the couch. I also re-discovered some abandoned projects, some of which were frogged and some which have been reactivated. When I have time. Which is never.

Anyway - FIVE WEEKS LEFT. I can FOCUS for five measly weeks despite the holidays. We are all geniuses for picking the absolute worst time of year for swearing off yummies. Or maybe it's the best time of year? Anyway - off to the gym!

Friday
6:30 Afterburn PIII, day 1 at home
7:30 sm potato, turkey cacciatore
10:00 ½ serving of turkey sausage casserole
12:30 ½ roast beef, provolone, cream cheese & veg on cheddar jalapeno bagel, chocolate chip cookie
2:30 the rest of the sandwich
After that….????????

The cat is old, demented, hyperthyroid and Siamese. Last night she decided that I should turn the tap in the tub on for her to drink out of so she kept going into the bathroom and howling in the tub which makes a terrible noise. I finally locked her out of the bathroom so then she got up every hour and a half or so to go about her cat business and then announce her return. She’s also deaf so shouting, “Hey! Shut up!” doesn’t work and you have to flash the lights to snap her out of it which is not good for sleep. Needless to say I missed my 4:30 wake up time. However, Phase III involves a lot of one-legged stuff which I can’t use a lot of weight for anyway so I was able to do the whole thing at home with only two minor substitutions.

In other news, I was looking at my Omron instructions and you’re supposed to hold it with a firm grip, which I was not. So first thing upon waking, at my most dehydrated, it read 27.5% (-.6%).

Thursday
6:00 wake
10:00 rice, turkey cacciatore
12:00 rice, turkey cacciatore
2:00 turkey cacciatore, ww bread
4:00 satsuma orange
6:30 1H TKD (light effort)
8:00 beef and green bean stir fry

I guess I’m not fully recovered, I felt horrible and nauseous today, but slightly peckish so I ate tiny meals and skipped cardio. I went to class and the instructor likes to work on technical stuff so it wasn’t too intense. We did some shield drills, but I got paired up with a girl my height. Unfortunately, I usually outweigh someone my height by about 30lbs and 28 years and I kick hard so they’re scared of me and they flinch or jump back. I hyperextended my knee because the shield wasn’t there when I kicked.

Ack! Wednesday already!

Having some trouble getting back into the swing of things. Today's workout SUCKED, I felt really weak. In the lockerroom my hams starting shaking just from leaning over to put stuff in my gym bag. I also discovered that I am now supposed to be lifting 4 days a week. I will lift M,T, Th, Fr and do HIIT on non-taekwondo days and once on the weekend.

Went to see "Eastern Promises" at the 2nd run. Everyone else was eating tasty bar food and I did not. Anyway - it was really good, I won't make any comparisons and give away the plot twists. It was also really graphic. My guess is that there has been some technological breakthrough in fake bodyparts which allows huge gruesome closeups of violence being wreaked upon them (like when the guy in the vampire movie gets his head axed off), and this movie has plenty! Also, Viggo nekkid. Is this the worst movie description ever? If you can stomach the gore it's a really good movie. Someone thinks they saw him last summer, she was standing in line at the grocery store and said to the guy next to her that he looked like Viggo Mortenson. He just grinned and said that he 'gets that alot'. Later, someone else read that he was riding his motorcycle across the state. I'm not sure what that means because there aren't really roads that go across the state and you'd be foolhardy to take anything smaller than an 18-wheeler up the haul road. Of course driving from one city to the other is about the same distance as driving from Massachusetts to Maryland, so whatever.

4:30 wake
5:30 Syntrax + powerade, Afterburn, Phase III, day 1
7:30 wild rice, beef in tomato/spinach sauce
10:00 protein bar, orange, green tea
12:00 beef in tomato/spinach sauce, 2 oatmeal coconut chocochip cookies
4:00 kale, pineapple/berry/lime/MD smoothie. Felt nauseous for hours
7:30 white rice

Movie Report

You'd think that when one was prostrate upon the couch that it would be a good time to watch movies, but actually there was nothing on, it was painful to get up and root thru the DVD collection, and I was not going out to the mailbox to get my Netflix. But I managed to see a few

"Yojimbo" (the Bodyguard) awesome classic Kurosawa flick, I think "Fistful of Dollars' copied it nearly scene for scene
"Curse of the Were-Rabbit" - cheeeeese, Gromit!
"Resident Evil II" - I thought it was interesting that she went into the surplus store and came out in a belly-baring camisole, matching mesh tank with picot edging and stretchy boot-cut pants. Army must've had a lot of those left over--don't ask, don't tell! My other favorite thing (aside from my beloved zombies) was the name "Raccoon City". The Japanese are so bizarre, what self-respecting American town would name itself "Raccoon City"? I could see a tiny place named "Coonville" or something, but an entire metropolis for bandit masked, bandy tailed varmits?
"Children of Men" - I really liked this and enjoyed wallowing in the atmospheric dystopia of a species with no hope facing down it's own extinction
"The Station Agent" - what is a friend and what is not? Why do we want them? Why do we need them? I am only 5" taller than Peter Dinklage.

Progress Report

---

I guess I did lose some weight while I was sick, now that the bloat from eating Saltines and Gatorade for a few days is gone. It kind of sucks because last week was supposed to be the final week of Afterburn Phase 2 and I was going to do all this HIIT.

My body is still a bit wimpy and poops out and needs a break after 6 weeks so this is what happens when I push it to 8. And I need to eat more, but that’s for next year when I get back from vacation.

ANYWAY – I woke up this morning and my muscles said “We’re hungry.” My stomach never talks to me except to say that barfing is imminent so it’s unusual to feel hungry and more so to hear it from the muscles so today is a refeed day which is fine because I work out twice.

4:30 wake
5:30 whey + waxy maize, HIIT, heavy bag work (about 45 min total)
7:00 wild rice, salmon burger, salad
9:00 cranberry oatmeal bars, Metabolic Drive
11:30 beef nachos (asked for extra veg and fewer chips)
4:30 wild rice, organic beef in tomato spinach sauce
6:30 taekwondo 1 hour
8:00 metabolic drive, greens powder

Here is the progress so far…I’m using the Omron to measure bodyfat and I don’t think I’m nearly as fat as it says, but I’m just looking at them as numbers that are going down. I’m not going to list my measurements (unless someone really cares) and those are pretty much all going down.

Date_____Weight___BF___Lean Mass___Fat Mass
Sep 1_____131.6___31.1___90.7________40.9
Oct 28____129.6___28.7___92.4________37.2
Nov 24____125.4___28.1___90.2________35.2

Still not slacking

Nope, haven't written anything down because I can't keep anything down! Hooray, it's the stomach flu which came on really suddenly on Monday.

Today I can sit up and check my email so I guess I'm getting better... Otherwise, my workout was that I lay on the couch and watched "Yojimbo" and "Curse of the Were-Rabbit" and drank about 300 cals worth of Gatorade =P

double vision

OK, I haven't been slacking, I've been posting my meals at the Precision Nutrition member's log area in the forum and I don't have enough interesting stuff going on in my life to do TWO daily updates so I think I'll just double post here.

But: 30% more non-fitness related randomosity at MPAG, guaranteed!

Planet Wonderful

I usually like Roger Ebert because he really enjoys movies and can appreciate a fun, stupid movie as well as classics. Some movie reviewers clearly hate their lives and take out their frustrations in their weekly column. Either that or they hope we'll think they're really smart if they hate EVERYTHING except the most abstruse, obscure, foreign art-house flick.

But Roger hated "Planet Terror"! I guess everyone else did too, the ones who actually went and watched it. The trailers and posters were pretty misleading because you think it's about a chick with a gun for a leg, but that's only at the very end, it's really a Zombie Movie!! Well, really it's about four movies squeezed uncomfortably into the cab of a speeding monster truck, bleeding, armed and headed off a cliff.... But it's action enough for an action movie, icky enough for a horror movie, *rong* enough to be grindhouse and funny enough to be a parody evocative of the genre. I thought it was good. I, apparently, am a 15 yo boy.
[edit: so is steve!]
-----------------------------------
Saturday
4:45 Meow meow? Huh,whaa -- Aaaah! Late late late… hey, it’s Saturday, silly cat-alarm
7:00 boiled egg, sm grapefruit, coffee
9:00 experimental protein bar
12:30 calzone w/ tomatoes mushrooms and onions, 2 cookies
1-3:00 lie around napping and reading
3:30 ½ pkg tofu, orange
6:00 healthy dinner
----------------------------------
Sunday:
7:00 wake
8:00 orange, microwave muffin (I don’t care, I need starch, 2T of oatmeal is better than a real muffin or a bagel or something)
12:00 peanut salsa chicken w/ spinach
4:00 crackers, green tea
6:00 oyster, cod, napa cabbage, wild mushroom stew, rice, spinach
---------------------------------------
Monday:
4:30 wake
5:30 whey + waxy maize, Afterburn PII Day 1 (4 sets), LISS
7:00 microwave muffin, mango
9:30 mango chicken
12:00 peanut salsa chicken w/ spinach
3:00 orange, boiled egg
6:00 chicken w/ experimental sweet & sour sauce, cauliflower
8:00 decaf

Cals: 1183
Carb: 108g tot (29% net)
Fiber 21g
Fat: 32g (27%)
Prot: 42% (42%)
---------------------------------------
Tuesday 11/13/07
4:30 wake
6:00 whey + waxy maize, HIIT, LISS
7:00 microwave muffin, swamp thing, pineapple
9:00 lab meeting: pumpkin cupcake, mini muffin, oatmeal cookie
12:00 sweet/sour chicken
3:00 orange, carrot, boiled egg
5:30 cauliflower, meatloaf ranch burger
6:30 no class =(

Daydreams

So I actually went to the weekly friday grad seminar. I've gotten really good at looking attentive and thoughtful, but really I'm thinking about sparring. I pick an opponent and picture their particular style and how I'd like to respond to it. This time it was the Juggernaut. Her favorite thing to do is stand there with her arms down and as soon as you launch an attack, because she's so tall, she just reaches out, punches you in the face and knocks you on your back. I had been responding with a spinning backfist because her attack relies on your cowering and backing up. So what if I just charged her? What if I just charged her and the moment she starts to react, pull off a flying 360 hook kick to the stomach. The trick would be to make sure I was spinning in the correct direction otherwise I'll just end up kicking her in the butt.

Friday:
12:30, 4:30 wake. Terrible night of sleep, but I need to be functional so I went back to bed
6:00 wake
8:00 aaah! Late late late: Swamp-Thing, part of a can of smoked oysters
11:30 Chicken Caesar salad from café, pick out most of croutons
4:00 ½ pack of tofu, orange, some soybean cracker mix
7:00 whey + waxy maize, #$%@!! Gym is closed for some reason
7:15 Afterburn PII Day 2 at home, 4x15 on both supersets; use wimpier weights, but cut rest period to 60s
8:00 ww beer bread muffin w/ smart balance, salmon, brussel sprouts

Thurs:
6:00 wake
8:00 meatloaf ranch burger, peas, coffee
10:30 egg, orange
12:00 spinach salad, coconut chicken
3:00 orange, beef jerky (bleeeecchh, couldn’t eat it)
5:30 salmon in BCS, brussel sprouts
6:30 1h taekwondo class
8:00 pineapple/berry/lime smoothie, jello

Cals: 1156
Carb: 97g
Fiber: 23g
Fat: 44g (%)
Prot: 99.9g (%)


Wednesday:
4:30 wake
5:30 whey + waxy maize, Afterburn PII day 1 (4 xA, 3xB), LISS
7:00 turkey cacciatore, quinoa, coffee
9:30 ½ protein bar (I really wanted something sweet =( ), orange
12:00 big salad, turkey apple sausage burger
3:00 egg, orange
6:00 salmon in BCS, broccoli, sf jello

Cals: 1349
Carb: 113g tot (28% net)
Fiber: 19g
Fat: 54g (39.9%)
Prot: 118g (35%)

Tuesday:
4:30 wake
5:30 whey + waxy maize, alternate swinging 25# plate and heavy bag intervals
7:00 shake (2T oats, pb, cocoa, rice prot), coffee
9:00 Lab Meeting: banana cake square, slice of beer bread
11:00 ostrim, orange
12:00 turkey cacciatore
3:00 boiled egg, carrot
5:00 (PN) salmon in basil cream sauce
5:30 1H tkd
8:00 1T pumpkin seeds, sf-jello

The worst thing I've ever eaten

I'm about in the middle of taste-adventurousness. At one end would be my friend Tracy's husband who picks out all the spinach ravioli from the blend because 'they are green'. At the other end would be an ex-boyfriend who did a lot of business travel in Asia and reported back that deep-fried bamboo worms looked and tasted like crinkle fries.

Anyway - it was in Tokyo at a place called "Tofuro" with my brother, his fiance, V, my parents, and some other people. It was one of those places that you order and receive a constant stream of little tidbits while the main event (tofu) is boiling in the middle of the table. We were chuckling over one menu item, translated as "chicken rump". I mean, what could they possibly have meant? Birds don't have rumps, per se, they just kind of end in a point with no muscular rounded 'tocks like you might see on Monica Brant, or say, Instructor Foxy were you to sneak an ogle at him in the mirrors while you're supposed to be stretching and he's kicking the heavy bag. Ultimately, we decided that they had MEANT chicken 'lump', like a McNugget or something. Aside: you do actually see 'L' and 'R' switched on occasion, my grandfather once gave me an English version of the daily paper which happened to have an article about the Scorpions who I was partial to at the time. I could not figure out who "Ludarf" was supposed to be and puzzled over it for a bit.... Oh, Rudolf! duh....

Chicken Lump, right. So V and I ordered the chicken lumps and sure enough were presented with some fried lumps and I bit into it and at the first taste of fatty globularity all polite modest Japanese female dining behavior abandoned me and I shouted, "it's a chicken butt!" and spat it out. Yes, folks, it was the globby blobby fat part around the anal sphincter that you'll see hanging off the skin of a raw chicken right at the mouth of the body cavity. I did not even realize this was a dining option for my people. So I guess it's not really the worst thing I ever *ate* since all I really did was scream, "Chicken butt!" and spit it out again.

4:30 wake
5:30 whey + waxy maize, Afterburn PII, day 2 (4 x superset A, 3x superset B)
7:00 egg whites and omega egg scrambled with spinach/tomato sauce, quinoa, coffee
10:00 meatloaf ranch burger, orange, coffee
12:00 turkey cacciatore
3:00 pineapple/berry/lime smoothie w/ rice protein
5:00 beer bread, smart balance
5:30 1H tkd
7:30 buffalo burger in spinach/tomato sauce, romaine lettuce, light dressing

Sunday Dish

And the cooking for today is Turkey Cacciatore!

I rushed off to the grocery store EARLY before all the slackers and their aisle-blocking offspring could get there, so early they hadn't even put out fresh broccoli yet which makes you wonder, when you go to the grocery store just before they close and they start acting like they're restocking are they in fact restocking or just trying to block off all the food so you get discouraged and go home? Anyway - I was looking at Epicurious and thought cacciatore might be a nice way to disguise icky rubbery boingy turkey breast and there was a recipe for roast veg cacciatore and I read the reviews but did not read the recipe carefully and made it anyway even tho I forgot to get another can of diced tomatoes.

Turkey Cacciatore w/ Roast Vegetables

Zucchini
Mushrooms (cremini)
Dried porcini mushrooms (this was the whole point of making cacciatore and I just now realized that I had forgotten to put them in so I went and put them in)
bell pepper
red onion
--- cut into bite sized chunks and toss with olive oil. spread on cookie sheet and roast at 400, stirring occasionally. When they're done the onions will be carmelized and the whole thing will smell like pizza.... except that it's not pizza, no pizza for me
---- clean kitchen while roasting veg

In large (laaaarrge) skillet cook 1lb ground turkey breast
Add 14oz diced canned tomatoes and ~1c broth
Add the roast veg, some balsamic vinegar, a few red pepper flakes, ~1T crushed Herbes de Provence
Simmer.
It smells pretty good. I haven't tasted it yet and I have dinner with my parents on Sunday because I am so exciting. Someone try it and tell me if it's good.

6:00 wake
9:00 tomato/spinach sauce, buffalo burger, coffee
11:00 small grapefruit, chicken
2:00 coffee, almonds, orange
4:00 LISS 60m
6:00 healthy dinner

More snow, more photography

Yay! more snow! It's a lovely gray overcast day with lots of powder snow falling. I've seen people skiing already, but I'll wait a bit until the trails are covered up more so I don't scrape up my skiis.

The only annoying part is having to dig the car out every time you want to go somewhere. Then when the heater warms up it melts the snow on the windshield and then when you park it all freezes again. Ah well. When it starts to get a bit more chilly (-20 and below) you don't get any frost at all! no more scraping!

Looking back, I was a little low-energy and prone to malaise this week. I got plenty of sleep, but tended to get exhausted and feel crappy. But the times I cheated a bit (except for the pie, I thought that was going to kill me) I felt better right away so I'm not sure what I should do about the carbs.....

6:00 wake
7:00 pineapple/berry/lime/MD shake, coffee
9:00 feeling achy and jittery, eat some roasted cashews and an apple
11:00 boiled egg, carrot
2:00 buffalo burger, peas, cookies (bad!), coffee
4:30 1h LISS on treadmill
6:00 dinner @ parents’ (beef and 3 veg, tried to limit rice)
8:00 cookies, coffee

Update and... What has is gots in its pocketssesss?

Xmas gift idea #327
Swiss Army knife with every tool ever (this is real!) You may wish to throw in a new pair of pants as well.

Thursday
4:30 wake, it’s cardio day! Turn off alarm.
7:45 wake, huh? Wha?
8:00 coffee, pineapple berry lime supershake, bleah! Forgot lime! Didn’t finish
10:00 ½ protein bar, orange
12:00 salad w/ chicken, apple, green tea
2:00 powerbar Nut Natural
5:00 peanut salsa chicken, spinach
6:30 TKD
8:30 metabolic drive

Cals: 1472
Carb: 128g tot (27% net)
Fiber: 29g
Fat: 52g (35%)
Prot: 139g (38%)

So today turned out to be a rest day. I usually don’t have trouble staying awake once the alarm goes off so when my brain just checks out like it did this morning I just figure it is smarter than I am and it needed the sleep. So I try not to berate myself. I was pretty foggy-headed and grouchy for the early part of the day and I caved and ate the PowerBar (yum!) and felt better right away.

I did go to taekwondo class and it was pretty strenuous (for us). The head instructor has invited some godlike guest instructor to do a workshop in February and she doesn’t want us to be a bunch of middle-aged gasping flabby people when he gets here so we’ve been doing a lot of strength and conditioning.

Wednesday
I totally forgot it was Halloween and was really startled when a bunch of teenagers rang my bell at about 8:00. First I thought they were a day early, but either way, I didn’t have any candy-like substances on the premises. They seemed terribly disappointed, but my building is inhabited by some couples, me, and the “weird bachelors” most of who seem to work nights. I didn’t even have my light on. After I closed the door I thought about offering them some old Labrada protein bars, but figured that would be a good way to get egged.

4:30 wake
5:30 Afterburn Phase II, workout 1; round out hour w/ LISS
7:00 microwave muffin, carrots
9:30 Ostrim, carrots
12:00 salad w/ lettuce, kidney beans, lettuce wrap filling (didn’t finish)
3:30 apple, boiled egg
7:00 roast chicken
Cals: 787 (ARRRGGHH)
Carb: 67g tot (27% net)
Fiber: 14g
Fat: 20g (26%)
Prot: 89g (45%)

America wins World Series! USA! USA!

...sighs, if I were back in Mass I would totally park all the way out at Alewife, take the train in just to see the parade and then spend the rest of the day trying to get out of the parking garage. It would be worth it. I miss the traffic and the bars with shouting Irish boys and autumn that lasts more than two weeks and bricks and concrete and my ugly uncomfortable Fenway Park.

Which may explain my uncalled for driving behavior this morning:

Dear frustrated redneck guy in pickup,

This is just to say, I apologize for this morning. When you roared up behind me right after I pulled out onto the main road, I was unprepared and it triggered some rude driving behavior. It was early and I didn't realize I was driving 5 miles under the speed limit, so when you started tailgating I just turned my mirrors so I wasn't blinded by your headlights and stuck to driving 5 miles under the limit. If you had backed off a little, I would've sped up.

Instead I kept you trapped behind my little Honda until the merge. And I knew you would wrench the steering wheel and lunge into the other lane behind traffic. Did you notice how you were then trapped because I was half a car length behind the person in front of you? Did it on purpose, sorry! And then, just to give you hope, I sped up a little so you would swerve in behind me. Then you were trapped again because I wasn't going fast enough for you to switch back into the other lane. On purpose. Sorry! I kept you there just until you were safely stuck in the morning rush, then I peeled off to take the shortcut.

Anyway - I hope you weren't in a legitimate hurry, but you seemed like such an asshole I could not resist the opportunity to fuck with you and drive up your blood pressure. I'm sure you're actually a very nice person. In fact, I'm considerate most of the time. But not this morning, so please accept my apologies.

xoxo,
keiko

7:00 wake
9:00 chicken breast in eggplant sauce (yeeech! Bitter and nasty), coffee
11:30 carrots, beef jerky, green tea
1:30 turkey lettuce wraps
4:00 boiled egg, apple
7:00 ½ giant artichoke, buffalo in tomato sauce
8:55 metabolic drive, peanut butter

I don’t have exact numbers because I failed to measure and weigh the stuff I cooked this weekend, but today was a little too low. By my estimates, under 1000cals (but 114g protein)

PROGRESS!!!1

AAAAH HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

129.6LB and 28.something on the Omron. That means I lost exactly 3lb since October 2nd and it's the first time I've been below 130 since spring. Granted, 2 of those pounds crept on as a rebound from when I was injured (riiiitttzz bitttssss) so it was nice to see the numbers go down.

I really buckled down these last two weeks meaning I kept compliant during weekends, but since I've been house/catsitting I haven't been able to weigh myself. I hate not being able to weigh myself every morning. I know some people can't because they freak out when the numbers fluctuate, but it makes me feel better to observe them and (hopefully) watch them trend down. I hate the suspense of a weigh-in day.

In other news, didja see my boy Daisuke get a RiBI?


Plan o' the day:
bfast: turkey stuffed mushrooms, apple, coffee
lunch: buffalo in tomato sauce
LISS 60m
snack: super shake
dinner: tofu in eggplant gravy
snack: metabolic drive

Happy Caturday

---------------------------------
A miracle occurred: I slept til 7:55 this morning which is entirely unheard of. I went to bed a little late, but since cats keep their own schedule I was prepared to be annoyed out of bed much earlier. On the occasion that I'm conscious first, I take it upon myself to wake the cat. Fair's fair.

So the only real change I've made is adding waxy maize into my workout drink and I dare say that I think I am recovering a little faster. Usually when my legs get trashed it takes the rest of the week and the weekend til they stop feeling so heavy. Yesterday, PWO I was so weary I took the elevator instead of the stairs, but this morning I feel fine. The placebo effect is still an effect!

Saturday plan:
7:55 wake (!!)
9:00 buffalo burger in tomato sauce, spinach, coffee
12:00 teriyaki pork, carrot, lettuce
3:00 ostrim, apple
6:00 mushrooms stuffed w/turkey
8:00 metabolic drive - didn't end up eating this

Belated Friday:
4:45 wake, much bargaining, I win in the end
5:30 whey + waxy maize, TT wo D deadlifts and posterior chain stuff, work on flying kicks on heavy bag
7:00 green beans, brown rice, scrambled tofu
9:30 (hungry!) boiled omega egg, apple, coffee
12:00 I don’t want to eat my lunch, no no no! purchased chicken Caesar w/ dressing on the side, ate a few croutons
4:00 carrots, ranch meatloaf burger, green tea
7:00 ground buffalo w/ tomato sauce, mashed cauliflower

Cals: 1440
Carb: 109g tot (25% net)
Fiber: 21g
Fat: 62g (43%)
Prot: 119g (33%)

Death and the Arctic

People are still chuckling about the vampires. My Dad was actually in Barrow, AK a few years ago. he said he was assigned a young Native lad with a rifle over his shoulder to escort him wherever he needed to go. One morning he showed up at the hotel with no hat on and said, "It's -90. You'd better stay in today." Also, I looked up "utilidor" and it does not mean "pod with a grinder in it", it means "utility corridor" or TUNNELS CONNECTED to STUFF.

I was supposed to go see "Into the Wild" with someone and I haven't yet. I guess it bugs me a little because people who live south of here all kind of gaze into their Starbucks and talk wistfully about adventurous spirit like we're being unimaginative and practical when we look at things like "Wild" or "Grizzly Man" and say, "What a dumbass." And a lot of people who say "dumbass" are those who moved up here because they visited and couldn't get the sub-Arctic out of their hearts. I have friends who live like mountain men, and friends who take every opportunity to ski off into the wilderness, and who've summitted the highest peak in North America. And do you know what? They went PREPARED and they came home again. While they understand the romantic adventurous spirit that drives people, they also have a great deal of RESPECT for this place. Anyone who thinks God loves humans more than the rest of creation might do well to be dropped off a few days out of town for half an hour where they'll quickly realize they are a barely visible speck in a vast unforgiving achingly beautiful expanse of wilderness. It's not Wyoming, it's not Colorado, you're 100 miles south of the Arctic Circle and if you don't have some well-deserved fear and respect for that situation there will soon be nothing left of you at all.

4:30 wake
5:30 whey+waxy maize, TT wo C (heavy delts/lats), LISS
7:00 apple turkey sausage burger w/ rice and peas, berries, coffee
10:00 ranch meatloaf burger, apple, green tea
1:00 1/2 prime rib sandwich w/ fries and salad
4:00 romaine lettuce, 2oz salmon, green tea
5:30 the rest of the sandwich, mashed cauliflower
6:30 TKD 1h
8:00 Metabolic Drive

Belated Wednesday
7:00 wake (trouble sleeping, uuuugh)
8:00 Whey + waxy maize; HIIT, LISS 60m tot
10:00 microwave muffin, coffee, apple
1:30 peanut salsa chicken w/ spinach (didn't finish)
4:00 carrots, halibut
7:00 salmon, cauliflower, smart balance, coffee, viactiv

The importance of social support (and video games)

I would just like to say that I appreciate the fact that my colleagues are all gym rats too. While they're not really into nutrition like someone who weighs their food and makes macro calculators in Excel, they try to eat healthy and clean. So they all looked on with polite curiosity when I pulled a head of romaine and a meatloaf ranch burger out of my lunch bag.
"I deconstructed my salad." I announced, "I get tired of chasing lettuce fragments around a tupperware with a dull plastic fork". They all protested weakly about how the charm of a salad was the different mixture of ingredients you get with every bite and then patiently ignored me while I ate lettuce with my hands. What are friends for?

In other news........THE NEW DOUBLE FINE GAME HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED!

errrr... ok, it looks like "Pick of Destiny" got hit in the head... (PoD: I want 90 minutes of my life back!) but Tim Schafer has the best blog evar (see sidebar). Marry me, Tim! (Schafer, not Asian Fetishist Tim, tho I adore you always, but not in that way, disclaimer disclaimer) and Jason Varitek!... and that Jack guy from "Torchwood" who's sort of like a tall handsome Tom Cruise but creepy in a different way!
On second thought, the cat and I are very happy together, go away!

4:30 wake
5:30 TT workout A, HIIT,
WO drink = 1 scoop whey with 20g waxy maize
7:00 Brown rice farina, 2 omega eggs, orange, coffee
11:00 (late! #@$@#$!!!) hardboiled egg
12:00 romaine lettuce, turkey/bison ranch meatloaf burger
3:00 ostrim jerky, carrots, coffee
6:00 coffee, brussel sprouts, halibut
8:00 metabolic drive

Cals: 1258
Carb: 124g tot (34% net)
Fiber: 16g
Fat: 34g (27%)
Prot: 118g (37%)

My boys done good

and it looks like they're not shaving their lucky whiskers, lol.

I totally felt like I'd been flogged this morning, that's the sign of a good deadlift workout. And my right leg is tired for some reason. Did a lot of general running around and more carpet shampooing again. It snowed all week and it's annoying to walk in and not quite enough to do any snow sports, but soon someone's going to teach me to skate-ski and a couple of other colleagues want to learn how to snowboard.


7:00 wake (no cat alarm! ahaahahaha)
8:00 coffee, pineapple/berry/lime/Met Dr smoothie
10:00 orange, tuna/tofu burger
12:30 tuna salad and lettuce
2:30 tuna/tofu burger (at last, leftovers are gone)
6:30 CHEAT: homemade spareribs, 1/2c br rice, brussel sprouts, 1 piece rhubarb crumble w/ ff Cool whip

Vegan Pesto

which I put on chicken and salmon because THAT makes so much sense, lol

1/4c nuts (I used pecans)
2 cloves garlic
4oz basil
3T nutritional yeast
3T flaxmeal
1T olive oil

• In a blender or mini-chopper grind up the nuts first, then put in the rest of the ingredients and blend to make a paste.
  

Pesto chicken:
Chicken breast
Vegan pesto

• Cut a deep flap into the chicken breast (like you're going to cut it into two layers), spread pesto inside. Tent with foil and bake to 160 degrees.

7:00 wake
8:00 2 omega eggs, spinach, tomatoes, 1T feta, coffee
9:00 Syntrax & 8g sucrose, TT workout D (lowerbody/back supersets), HIIT (25# swings, squat kicks)
10:30 Syntrax, 20g waxy maize (new!)
12:00 peanut salsa chicken, 1/2c br rice, romaine lettuce
2:30 coffee, 3 almonds, Ostrim, orange
4:00 green tea
6:00 grilled pork, snap peas
9:00 Metabolic Drive (when I mix it with greens I get stomach cramps)

Cals: 1347
Carb: 104g tot (27% net)
Fiber: 13.8g
Fat: 34.3g (26%)
Prot: 158.8g (47%)

Two, count 'em TWO movies

... with people dying in the Frozen North opened today! One in a romantic (albeit dumbass) way and others getting et by vampires. Guess which one I saw! The gore was a leedle bit disturbing, but less so because the house was packed and everyone was well-behaved and enjoying getting creeped out. During the icky parts there would be involuntary collective groans of "Ewww" which was really funny and took the edge off.

For the record:

• there are Native people in Barrow, Alaska
• no one says, "wow! it must be -10!" unless they're talking about how warm it is
  
• which maybe he was because the Arctic Ocean wasn't frozen
• planes can fly in the dark

just thought I'd mention it

4:45 wake
5:30 Syntrax & sucrose, TT workout C, HIIT
I totally bonked in the last few minutes and couldn't finish =(
7:00 beef stew, peas, br rice, coffee
10:00 magic micro muffin (forgot to eat my orange), coffee
1:00 huge turkey caesar sandwich w/o the bread (turkey, veggies, 1 thin slice of cheese)
4:00 ostrim, orange
6:00 broccoli/tofu stir fry w/ peanut sauce
9:00 Metabolic Drive, greens powder

Cals: 1475
Carbs: 111g tot (25% net)
Fiber: 20g
Fat: 51g (34%)
Prot: 144g (39%)

Kick people in the head for PEACE

Here's the North Korean taekwondo demo team in Atlanta
The guys in the padding are playing hoodlums who harass the nice young couple in street clothes. I don't look anything like that! But then, she's probably the #1 female black belt in the whole country.

Did not sleep well, slept in, still feel crummy. But I can fulfill all my workouts Friday and Saturday.

1:00 - 8:30 wake
9:00 magic micro muffin w/ smart balance, blueberries, coffee (feel like I need a little starch)
1:00 chicken thigh, spinach, snap peas w/ peanut sauce
3:00 orange, coffee, Chocolate PB shake, 3 almonds
5:30 romaine lettuce, tofu/tuna burger
6:30 1H TKD
8:30 beef patty, broccoli, 1/2c brown rice

Cals: 1294
Carbs: 101g tot (25% net)
Fiber: 18g
Fat: 50g (39%)
Prot: 120 (37%)

Precise Nutritionalization of the Magic Micro Muffin

The magic microwave muffin is a famous Stella Juarez recipe that has floated around the BFL crowd for ages now. You mix oat flour, protein powder and water, nuke it and voila! (slightly dry and dense) Muffin!

So I thought, let's PN that sucker and make it a....

Super Magic Microwave PostWorkout Muffin!
1 scoop Metabolic Drive
1/4c old fashioned oats whizzed in a coffee grinder to make flour (measure before grinding)
1T flaxseed meal
1t avocado oil
1T fat free yogurt
1T Greens powder*
~1/4c water or so to make a smooth batter

• Mix well in a 2c PYREX (glass) measuring cup and nuke for about 2 minutes. Muffin magically detaches itself from glass and is done when sides have pulled away tho the bottom may still look damp. Should you foolishly choose to use plastic, all bets are off.
  
• * Ha ha! Wee jokie-joke about the greens powder! Just leave that out and eat with fruit for full compliance.
• I've never tried doubling the recipe so I guess boys should eat two.
  
• I have used both strawberry and chocolate MD and both were really good. Next time I think I'll leave out the oil and put (healthy) margarine on it when it's done
  
• You can mix in other stuff like fruit and nuts. How about chocolate peanut butter, strawberry raspberry, vanilla blueberry, chocolate banana chip? The possibilities are endless!
  

1:00 wake from terrible zombie nightmare
6:00 wake
7:30 2 omega eggs, tomatoes, 1T reduced fat feta
9:30 1/2 protein bar, orange
12:30 pesto salmon, brussel sprouts
3:00 pineapple/berry/lime/MD smoothie
6:30 tuna tofu burger, carrots, edamame
8:00 Swamp Thing, Met Dr

Cals: 1315
Carb: 104g tot (23% net)
Fiber: 28g
Fat: 54g (41%)
Prot: 123g (37%)
Felt like total crap today. Was really hot in the morning after breakfast, then got achy nauseous and weak in the afternoon. So, no workout, wimp.

Coffee Incompliance

Tuesday:
I thought giving up Diet Coke was going to be awful. I cast the occasional glance of longing toward the giant glowing caffeine machine when I'm trotting off to a boring seminar in a dark room, but otherwise it has been completely painless. I probably save $10 a week by not drinking the stuff.

Then there's coffee... I don't often drink those creamy mochas and lattes (lactose ick), but I love that warm cup of sweetness first thing in the morning, during the 3PM slump and decaf after dinner. I use stevia to sweeten it and Soy Silk creamer or fat-free powder stuff instead of half & half to cut down on the calories. I've even been making it really weak so I don't have to use as much creamer.

I've been trying to switch over to lemon flavored green tea, but I have a feeling if I cut it out completely it'll be about 3 days before I'm up in the clocktower brandishing Coffee-Mate screaming, "You will pry it out of my cold dead paws, do you hear me? My Cold Dead Paws!"
Negotiator: "Cold dead FAT paws?"
Me: (sniffles)
Then I'll have to be lured down with cheddar Ritz Bitz and carted off to the loony bin. And we don't have a clocktower.

I'm workin' on it!

4:30 wake
5:30 Syntrax +8g sucrose, TT workout B (upper body superset), HIIT
7:00 PN'd chocolate magic micro muffin, orange
10:00 Scheduled Cheat: 2" x 3"quickbread thingy w/ peach streusel
12:30 chayote squash, pesto chicken
4:00 more pesto chicken, 1 romaine heart (probably there should've been another snack in here)
6:30 TKD 1H
8:00 salmon w/ dijon pecan crust, brussel sprouts, orange

Cals: 1132
Carb: 81.2g (22% net)
Fiber: 18g
Fat: 38g (34%)
Prot: 123g (43%)

Oh Monday of Remorse

Last week I felt like I was holding my breath for four days and then when the scale/Omron went the wrong way I got frustrated and started eating (mostly not eating) unbalanced meals. Of course you can easily undo four days of progress in three and then some. But it's PMS week so of COURSE the scale is going to go up, I could lose an arm and still gain weight.

Now it doesn't do me any good to just leave out the bad days, I need the fear of looking wimpy to motivate me on a meal by meal basis! So I'm going to write down everything -- which was the point of this goofy blog all along -- I'm going to PROMISE to write down everything, Ritz Bitz and all. I say that because two whole undocumented boxes of Cheese Ritz Bitz disappeared this month...

Anyway - very painful getting up this morning. Woke up around 1AM because my sinus was one big blood clot and then had trouble getting back to sleep. When I did, I only went into a half asleep dream state where my brain was jabbering so I was really disappointed when the alarm went off. I really had to remind myself that other people start showing up in the weight room at 6:00AM, so get up NOW!

4:40 wake
5:30 Syntrax w/ sucrose, TT workout A lower body superset, abs, walk 20m
7:00 turkey bacon, apple turkey sausage burger, green beans, 1/4c oats
9:30 BFL magic microwave muffin, orange
12:30 chayote, pecan crusted salmon
3:30 1 wheat thin, coffee, carrot, radishes, ostrim
6:30 chicken breast w/ vegan pesto, brussel sprouts

Cals: 1214
Carbs: 102g tot (34% net)
Fiber: 24g
Fat: 34g (28%)
Protein: 135g (44%)

I can't wait....

What a great idea, it's going to be icky and hilarious.

Today's food report is best left unmentioned, however.

The way to do intervals

belated Friday:
I don't think I've ever seen anybody else do intervals in my gym. I'm probably politely ignored as the Crazy Boston-Hat Girl who only stays on the cardio machine for a few minutes and gets off beet-red and sweat-soaked. But on Friday, ROTC were doing sprint intervals. Chasing your friends around the track screaming "Give me your lunch money!" and laughing hysterically looks a lot more fun.

Today was a downward spiral which ended face-down in a flan:
4:30 wake
5:30 lower body supersets, skipped HIIT and kicked bag for awhile (squat-kicks, ow); Syntrax and 10g sucrose during workout
7:00 turkey bacon, potato, turkey apple sausage burger hash, berries w/ yogurt
9:30 ostrim, apple
1:30 Massamun curry, rice, eggroll (oops)
6:00 ravioli, salad, bread, coffee, flan (ouch)
Didn't stuff myself, but ended up with a terrible stomach ache. I refuse to become one of those people who says they can no longer tolerate junk food after cleaning up their diet! No no no no no! Ice cream sandwiches and beer forever!

Give me zombies

Saw "Interview" last night: illusions of superiority, judgment, control all really well directed and acted, but basically 90 minutes delving into the psyches of two characters I wouldn't care to spend half an hour chatting with. It was supposed to be based on a movie about Theo van Gogh (Vincent's brother) which I'm pretty sure I saw and didn't enjoy because the brothers seemed to spend and inordinate amount of time just shrieking at each other.

I must admit I still prefer "Virus strikes small town turning residents into shambling rotting cannibalistic undead. Hilarity ensues." A terrible monster flick is way better than a 'pretty good' drama.

I bumped up the carb ratio and cals for today.
4:30 wake
5:30 upper body superset, abs, 30m elliptical, Syntrax + sucrose
7:30 Barilla plus, nutritional yeast, tuna, olive oil, carrot
9:30 apple, ostrim
12:00 broccoli, breaded yogurt chicken
3:00 yogurt w/ 1/2 scoop Metabolic Drive, carrot
5:30 chicken, Swamp Thing
6:30 TKD
8:00 hash of turkey bacon, apple turkey sausage burger, small potato, peas

Cals: 1481
Carb: 185.3g tot (43.7% net)
Fiber: 23.5g
Fat: 23.1g (15.6%)
Protein: 138.7 (37.5%)

Prepare to get skinny!

Heh, now it's peer-reviewed science that brand X of carbonated beverage is thermogenic and brand Y is not. Either way, isn't it odd that 12oz of refrigerated soft drink boosts your metabolic rate only 13% while 16oz of room temperature water boosts it by 24%? Just sayin' is all.

6:30 30m cross trainer, 30m recumbent bike
8:00 swiss chard, eggs, coffee, pasta
10:00 1/2 protein bar (no veg!)
12:30 beef stew, romaine lettuce
4:00 ostrim, apple (late!)
6:30 I am unprepared and tired and unhungry and the chicken is still frozen solid so I grazed through the cupboards when I really could have had a protein shake or something, wimp!

Still plugging away!

Some randomosity:

• it snowed, yay! It's still probably like 90 degrees in Texas =)
  
• my weight and bodyfat pretty much stayed the same after three weeks of complete inactivity
• I've actually been peckish before meals which I will take as a good sign
• I took a load of BCAA pre-workout and didn't get the chemically/chlorine smell
  
• the cat-alarm has a weekend mode, who knew?
• MP3 player now full of old Oingo Boingo and Amazing Royal Crowns =)
  

4:30 wake
5:30 BCAA ~4g, upper body supersets, HIIT
7:30 br rice farina, egg, 1/2 orange
9:30 apple cinnamon oatmeal bread, carrot, apple turkey sausage burger
12:00 beef stew, swiss chard
3:00 apple, ostrim
5:00 Metabolic Drive, cashews, benefiber, 1/2 orange
5:30 2h TKD (I got the 5:30 and 6:30 classes mixed up and ended up going to both)
8:00 peanut salsa tilapia, small potato

Cals: 1379
Carbs: 141g tot (33.2% net)
Fiber: 26.5g
Fat: 37.2g (27%)
Prot: 124.7g (36.2%)

Shane and metabolic turbulence

My mom likes classic movies and my uncle sent her a huge box of DVD's a few weeks ago. To be sporting, I agreed to watch one and was prepared to grit my teeth through "Grand Hotel" or something, but my Dad picked out "Shane". It's one of those, "oh, now I get the reference!" classics and not a bad flick at all. Mostly because there was lots of fighting and Jack Palance. Nobody turns out to be a wushu master, nobody uses WWF moves, just regular guys pounding the bejeezus out of each other.

Normally if my opponent were to throw a right hook, I would duck away to the right then straighten up and jab-cross. Shane uncoils from the duck with a *backfist*-right hook. I am totally going to try that on someone. When I spar again. Which may be February.

In other news: I was hungry for lunch two hours after eating my snack! Today's workout was just two heavy supersets for upper body and HIIT, so I guess my training is turbulent. Feeling slightly run down, maybe because I went to TKD every day this week. When I was little I thought "dark circles under the eyes" was some weird figure of speech, but yesterday raccoons were like "Dang, girl, get concealer!" On the bright side, Instructor Foxy now teaching all ranks class.

4:30 wake, Syntrax
5:30 upper body (workout C), HIIT, walk/stretch
7:00 teriyaki chicken, brussel sprouts, br rice
10:00 1/2 protein bar, orange
12:00 big salad w/ chicken
4:00 PBL smoothie w/ Met Drive, cookie
5:30 TKD
7:30 meatloaf burger, eggplant, salad

Cals: 1462 (not counting cookie)
Carbs: 135.4g tot (37% net)
Fat: 46.8g (32%)
Prot: 142.9g (39%)
Fiber 32.3g

And more news!

Turns out I get to test on Friday! This is a relief because at the white/yellow class yesterday I was the tallest (!!) and oldest by 30 years. With a green stripe I get to play with the big kids.

5:00-7:00: wake (Bratski Catski alarm with snooze)
7:30 GoLean Crunch, Metabolic Drive, carrot
10:30 mini muffin, 1/2 protein bar
12:00 steak and pepper stir fry, 1/2 orange
3:30 carrot, 1/2 orange, ostrim
5:30 TKD
7:00 1/2c br rice, cauliflower, peanut/salsa chicken, coffee

Cals: 1248
Carbs: 125g tot (32.4% net)
Fat: 30.9g (24.8%)
Prot: 126.3g (40.5%)
Fiber: 24g

Say NO to Crack (ers)

For chocolate cravings, I got (generic brand) Viactiv, the chocolate chewy calcium supplements. And because they're supplements I'm leery of taking more than one extra per day on top of what I usually take (1g per day, not 3 like I said a few weeks ago, oops). For salt cravings I usually stare forlornly into my freezer full of chicken and tilapia, so this week I got some cheese Ritz Bitz.

For the record, upon my demise I would like the space around me in the coffin packed with cheese Ritz Bitz so I may take them, Egyptian-style, into the afterlife. Until then: restraining order!

5:00 wake
5:30 Syntrax, lower body, 15m hamster bike
7:00 peanut salsa chicken, cauliflower, oatmeal, smart balance
10:00 missed snack! @#$%$!!
11:30 meatloaf burger, salad, orange
3:00 ostrim, carrot
4:30 pecans
5:30 TKD
7:00 beef and pepper stir fry, coffee

Cals: 1203 (higher than this, there was a piece of cheese, a mini-muffin and ritz bitz involved)
Carb: 74.7g tot (55.2% net)
Fat: 52.6g (43.7%)
Prot: 116g (38.6%)
Fiber: 19.5g

Everyone loves Tetris

Japanese game show based on a conveyor belt with a pool at one end. The possibilities are endless.....

4:30 wake
5:00 Syntrax
5:30 Lift: workout A (upper body), hiit ~12 min
7:00 PBL Met Dr smoothie, ritz bitz
10:00 1/2 bell pepper, 1/2 protein bar
12:00 broccoli, steak
3:30 orange, ostrim
4:30 TKD
7:00 peanut salsa chicken cauliflower

Cals: 1179
Carbs: 107.9 tot (29.7% net)
Fat: 32.2g (27.3%)
Prot: 131g (44.4%)
Fiber: 20.3g

Good news

Friday: I walked in flat shoes and I went to the gym! I was just going to pedal the bike for 30 minutes and that got boring really fast so I did intervals. I even did a few db back exercises. The doctor is a little frustrated because I won't get an MRI, but even if he did know exactly what's wrong it wouldn't change the treatment so I didn't see the point of having to deal with my insurance company.

I also went curling. My first throw ended up with me sliding face first along the ice behind my rock, but it got better.

Movies:
Lucky Number Slevin...... isn't it cheating if you show something happening that didn't or would it just make the 'twist' too easy to figure out?
Venus: officially under the fine cinema category. One of those well written well acted stories that looks unflinchingly at mortality and makes you twitchy and uncomfortable in how it addresses love and death etc. See why I like zombies? Motivation = Brains!

5:00 wake
6:30 30m hiit
8:30 oatmeal w/ smart balance, bell pepper, protein shake
11:30 peanut salsa chicken, broccoli
3:00 ostrim, apple, coffee
6:00 lettuce wrape w/ exotic flavored turkey
8:00 missed snack, oops
11:00 1/2 protein bar

WELCOME TO MPAGR!

Mere moments ago I invited a bunch of college friends to visit.

Having lost 3 of my 20 weeks and still having some trouble walking I definitely need focus and I'm hoping if I keep this place entertaining some of you will return occasionally. It's the "darn, if I eat that I'll have to write it down and someone will anonymously leave comments like 'Mooooooooo'". Ok, you wouldn't do that =).

I'm off the crutches because I found that if I wear heels my calf doesn't get as stretched and I can walk (hark! the sound of all the doctors smacking themselves in the forehead). But it still hurts and I can't stand securely on it. Anyway, off to physical therapy for the first time in a few minutes and back to the ortho-doc in the afternoon so we'll see what everyone says.

September's Bear

Making bears is kind of addictive and it's good practice for basic stuff like counting rows, changing colors, adding stitches, etc.

In other news: I bought music!! I usually find my CD's (ancient round shiny things, put in box, noise comes out) in the bargain bin, but the used CD selection here is not quite what it was in, oh, BOSTON. Anyway - between kexp.org and iTunes it's instant gratification!

"Eki A'ttar" my favorite song from Genghis Blues, awesome movie
"Shuffle your feet", "Ain't No Easy Way" - despite their name, everything else from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club appears to be whiny suckage, but these are bluesy/southern rocky cool
"Galang" by MIA, wicked girl band

5:00 wake, Syntrax
6:00 chest, shoulders, bi's, core: superset one non-competing exercise for each group 3x, 1 min rest between supersets, 2 supersets and then just some random exercises.
7:00 salsa peanut chicken, bell pepper, rice
12:00 turkey, salad
3:00 egg, apple
6:00 broccoli, beef, 1sl veg pizza (oops)
8:00 missed snack, drat! not hungry

Confession and a Recipe

Still alive, still about the same. Feeling guilty because this was an opportunity to show my tenacity and spunk and overcome injury and instead I've gotten discouraged and have been wallowing in free-eating (or not, most of the time), self-pity, indolence and video games. Overlord rocks. It's original and addictive and the map is MASSIVE (it's no "Morrowind" but still pretty huge).

So, starting today, right now, back on track. Actually I need some more food to really get back on track, BUT, attitude-wise, back on track. Eat veggies, drink water, eat something and lift. Even though I feel like it's all futile and pointless right now, just start because it's what I do.

And here's a recipe for V:

Some days it’s just not possible to steam, chew and swallow a head of cauliflower so you might opt for the convenience of a greens drink. But, when faced with a lurid green glass that looks and smells like pond scum, you might just decide that tuna counts as a vegetable. Granted, my Garden of Life PerfectFood is very mild and tastes faintly like broccoli juice, but here is a recipe to file under the "Not too disgusting" category:

Swamp Thing
1 heaping Tablespoon greens powder
1/2t Frank’s Red Hot
1/2t soy sauce
1 squeeze lemon or lime juice
8 oz water
Blend together. For God's sake, don't over-dilute greens powder, you'll just end up having to drink more of it.

bfast: rice, ostrim, omega egg
lunch: PBL Metabolic Drive smoothie
lift: back, tri's, core
dinner: rice, tuna steak, lots of veg, chocolate chip cookie

I'm quitting my day job

... to be a baseball photographer!
These are from the weekend in Seattle, lo, these many moons ago.See, it really is them!

I'm going to go into the lab tomorrow and hobble around to see how it goes. The main problem with crutches is that you can't carry anything. I've been going around the house with just one, which frees up a hand. I still can't put any weight on my right leg and it hasn't really improved so I'm going back to the doctor unless I make some progress by Friday. I am really bummed that I'm going to miss my belt test. Even if I magically get better and qualify I sure as heck am not going to be able to do a flying break.

All? No, ALL!

Of course I realize that I'm a total hypocrite to post yesterday's little thought followed by the day's menu of beings whose misfortune it is to be tasty. And you were delicious, thanks! Unfortunately my current definition of "all" also excludes vermin like fruit flies and carpet beetles, sometimes my smoky neighbors, and anyone who is in my squat rack when I want to use it.

I'm workin' on it. I'm WORKING on it!

9:00 3/4c GoLean Crunch, raw cashew milk
12:30 Lift: back, tri's, core
1:30 salmon, big salad w/ flax oil, pumpkin seeds, craisins
5:00 pecan crusted chicken breast, mashed cauliflower
8:00 cream cheese thingy dessert-like substance

Today

May all beings be free from suffering

May all beings be free from pain

7:00 smoothie
9:00 1/2 protein bar
12:00 lift: chest, shoulders, biceps
1:00 salad, beef, sm eggroll
4:30 apple, ostrim
8:30 meatloaf burger, brussell sprouts, br rice

Hm, what now????

Yesterday I had no energy and actually took three naps and still didn't have any trouble sleeping at night. Today I felt a lot better and have more range of motion. The dude in the ER thought it was probably just a really bad strain or minor tear so I'll keep icing it and try not to fall over and kill myself on the crutches.

I guess workouts will be some push-pull supersets for shoulders, chest, and back and core stuff with the wimpy weights at home until I can drive. No chance for HIIT. I could hop up and down on my good leg, but the neighbors would probably call the cops.

Fortunately my house is devoid of junk and I can't get to the store by myself. For a little while I wished I could drown my self pity in a big bubbly ice cold glass or two or Diet Pepsi, but no. I am small and easy-going, but as stubborn as a deaf boulder when I want to be.

8:00 wake
9:00 beef, rice, peas
12:00 salad, tuna burger
1:00 half protein bar, green tea
4:00 ww toast w/ PB
7:00 seafood, rice, salad, zucchini
9:00 sugar free popsicle

Ow! Ow! Owie Ow Ow!

Sparring class was great today because only two other people showed up. They were working together and I got to work with the head instructor. We were doing drills and she was having me kick a bit higher than I am used to (but I was able to!) and then about 20 minutes into it my right calf made this popping noise and now I can't walk. I can move around with a sort of Quasimodo lurching side step or hobble with the right leg held rigid and left leg bent (keep on truckin'!).

I am exceedingly annoyed. I think part of it was that the low-carb thing tends to screw with electrolytes and I get leg cramps at night if I'm not careful with my cal-mag. I also don't recover very well so I had just barely gotten over Tuesday leg day. Needless to say I will be eating normally (healthy) from now on.

Anyway. ARRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrGGGggggHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I am up a half a pound and down .75% according to the mOron.

suggestions welcome!

6:30 wake
8:00 salad, chicken thighs
12:00 sesame chicken salad w/ bleu cheese dressing
4:00 jarlsberg, chicken wings, salad
6:00 green smoothie
6:30 sparring class
7:30 meatloaf burger, cucumber, wh rice, PIE! COOKIE!

---

Tornò al nido la rondine e cinguetta.

Mi manchi =( ...

Innernets in much of the state down yesterday!
4:30 wake
5:30 TT workout C, HIIT, crosstrainer
6:45 Syntrax nectar
7:30 egg, egg whites scrambled w/ oysters, sauteed onion, zucchini

12:00 lunch = greek salad, no tomatoes or croutons
4:00 ostrim, cucumbers
5:00 freak out completely, buy and eat half a thing of Jarlsberg cheese while making salad for potluck
7:00 potluck: cheeseburger patty, salad. Avoid explaining 'ketosis' to other guests. Carry off a slice of rhubarb pie and an oatmeal cookie and stash them in the freezer for later.

Bleah!

I came across nothing amusing today to post here. Instead of getting up to do my HIIT, I argued with myself and wound up getting up late without really getting any extra sleep, then spent the day waddling around on aching quads, trying not to stay sitting so they wouldn't cramp up.

After three days of low-carbin' it I have gained a half a pound which just goes to show there is no resistance to the bloatational power of PMS. On the bright side, pre-planning my week of eating has worked out really well because I don't need to think at all. I even went so far as to print out the plan and post the hardcopy on the fridge. This all seems really obvious now =). Also a friend told me that her boyfriend dropped 30lbs just by cutting out diet soda. I suppose if you drink artificial sweetener you might be keeping your insulin levels elevated.

I got Jon Benson/Jan Hauser's new e-book which is pretty interesting. Maybe I'll give it a try in 19 and a half weeks. I particularly enjoyed the photo examples of how to measure food portions with your hands, that cracked me up.

3:30 4:30 5:30 6:30 wake
7:30 hamburger, cauliflower
12:00 big salad, chicken thighs, cashews, celery
3:30 green smoothie (no oil)
7:00 steak, brussel sprouts

Cals: 1337
Carbs: 54.6g tot (10% net)
Fiber: 20.9g
Fat: 77.6g (58%)
Prot: 114.1g (34%)