Endorphinz

With this being the work week from hell I had to work through lunch, but I ate 100 clean today, and headed straight to the Y for a gym sesh after work.

I did Back and Shoulders, and finished up with 25 minutes of treadmill intervals. I am so in love with the rush of a good workout!!!

Came home and had some turkey meatloaf and sauted spinach (going lower carb today and tomorrow) and watched The Fantastic Mr. Fox. What an adorable movie! I recommend it for good, entertaining, light-hearted fun.

I am training with a new friend, ZO at the Y tomorrow and I am totally looking forward to having a fresh perspective on things. He's a power lifter and super cool. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow. I think it is a chest day and triceps day. :)

Slippery Slopes

Made a couple of bad choices over the last few days. Let me tell my little tale and what I learned from it.

Sunday night I was bored. I had eaten perfect and gotten in great workouts all weekend and had all my chores done by 6 PM Sunday evening. With no pending Mad Men to occupy me, I was antsy and decided I really wanted to go out for a little tasty cheat food and a glass of wine.

I called up MP and went to Alchemy, then met up with a friend for a drink. It was nice to go out since it has been so long, and I knew I would be A-OK because I already had my clean meals ready for work the next day.

And then Monday happened. I'll spare you the details, but the tip of the iceberg is that we have 10 executives from corporate visiting this week, I had 5 phone interviews to conduct, and benefit renewal season is in full swing. INSANITY! My lunch hour workout went right out the window. No problem, I'll just go to the gym after work. So I work, I work, I work, I work....until 7:00 PM! That's 11 hours straight.

I leave the office and drive home a zombie, starving and exhausted. That was when my weakness got the best of me. I had no more prepared clean food, no energy, and super high stress and anxiety. So what do I do? Do I whip up some egg whites and oatmeal and head to the Y to decompress? Hell no. I ask my little bro if he wants to throw in for some pizza delivery and order that shit up, then settle in front of the couch to watch cable til my eyelids start to droop. I was supposed to have made clean food for the next day.

AND THEN I JUMP OUT AFTER IT, K?

So that sent me off to work this morning with nothing prepared for lunch. I had my clean breakfast and snack, but nothing for lunch. We were having a catered employee lunch and since I am always on the set up/tear down crew, I couldn't leave and at least hit up the salad bar, I had to eat with everyone else...and there were no "healthy" options. bbq, potato salad, stuff like that.

So that sucked, and then blah blah blah (sparing the drama details) another day from hell, and I don't get home tonight until 7:00 PM. Again, no energy for the gym (probably from eating that crap food) and no clean food around, so I had a slice of leftover pizza for dinner and collapsed on the couch, defeated, mentally wrestling with my self but physically unable to do anything about it.

The guilt was eating me alive. What am I doing?  I don't want this. Sunday was cool, I was cool with that and felt like I had some wiggle room for it, but not yesterday and today. This is how it happens- how you get off track. You're too tired to prepare, and the lack of preparedness ruins your plan, and because you ate poorly and didn't exercise you are tired, grouchy, and more stressed than you would be otherwise. The vicious cycle.

Determined not to let the cycle continue for another second,  I got my ass up of the couch and started making my healthy meals for tomorrow. Hooray! So tomorrow I'll have a perfect eating day and get in a hard workout or two and all will be well. I'm going to go lower carb for the next 2-3 days too since I've had more than enough over the past few days.

No scrutinization, no self loathing, just evaluation, assessing, and moving on. Bootstraps, baby! This is another lesson in the importance of planning ahead and making good choices. I need to make sure I ALWAYS have my clean meals with me and be less of a martyr at work when I have a choice. I have a lot of responsibility, but sneaking out for a 40 minute run isn't going to cause the walls to fall in. I am going to make sure I make time for myself during the workday.

I am glad I was able to feel the night and day differenc having eaten poorly. Physically, I feel sluggish and full, not strong and fit like I had been feeling. Mentally, I feel cloudy and stressed, not empowered and happy.

And all that stuff they say about bad carbs making you crave bad carbs.... it is true! It messes with your cravings. I feel like learning this stuff was really valuable at this point in the game, like a true science experiment that makes me want to get back to my squeaky-clean livin' sooner than ever.

Am I too hard on myself? Maybe a little. Like I said, I thought Sunday night was fine, and cheat meals should be allowed. But I am not in maintenance mode yet, and it is very important to me that I make sure those days are rare and don't put me in a cycle I don't want to be in. I always want to figure out my "triggers" are and fight those stressful days the healthy way. Not to say I haven't! I've mentioned before some of the victories I've had. Days where I felt like skipping a workout but talked myself into going. I do win little battles all the time. I am determined and will not give up.

And I am sure that the guilt mixed with extra glycogen stores should lead to some pretty killer workouts for the next week. :)

Friday Night Lights

Its a gorgeous full moon tonight. Big and bright, its lighting up the whole sky.

I had to stay late at work and it was a helluva week so I was pretty beat when I pulled into the driveway this evening. Fridays are always busy for me, and today I had back to back phone interviews plus an employee issue and a mini-crisis so I couldn't get away from my desk to workout at lunch. Of course I ate clean and drink plenty of water all day. People at work are starting to know something is up - I eat 4 of my meals during work hours. I could eat the first of those meals at home (breakfast) but my morning doesn't work out like that. Today as I nuked my 4 pm meal and brought it to my office the IT guy was like "are you just now eating lunch?" and so I took the opportunity to explain my behaivor as of late, "no, I eat every 3 hours" he was like "oh one of those grazing things" and so I was like, "pretty much, yeah."  Good enough. I know he and the others have noticed I eat at my desk quite a bit. Or maybe no one really notices. My boss knows whats up and still teases me about eating so often, although she supports me and helps me make excuses for not attending optional business lunches. Much appreciated.

Can I just say I dislike the term "grazing"? It reminds me of cattle. But I digress.

I decompressed for an hour or so after getting home this eve, fighting the internal battle of go workout vs. go out to happy hour/dinner. The good news is that since I am so committed to the project I know that the guilt trip is totally not worth skipping the workout. So I told myself I was going to go rip it up at the gym, and then I could go out if I wanted to. Of course once I workout I only feel like being healthy any taking care of myself, so here I am, blogging, sippin on the home grown. HERB TEA 4 LIFE

A Solid Month

I mentioned yesterday that I am starting to see results. It's true! That being said I think I'm at the stage now where I keep doing what I'm doing and only tweak when I stop seeing results.

I just want to touch on a few subjects about what I currently am or am not doing and my reasoning behind my actions.

Calories.

I am not counting calories right now. I would chalk it up to pure laziness really. I'm getting results so I don't see the need. Plus, I'm not flying completely blind. I can eyeball a teaspoon, tablespoon, 4 oz of chicken, proper oatmeal servings, proper sweet potato servings, etc. I am eating around 1600 calories a day based on what I know from the days when I was tracking my food. Since I am making this project my lifestyle I don't want to make it un-fun or mundane by forcing myself to do tedious calorie tracking. I'm seeing results, I'm enjoying things, I eat super clean, and I'm never hungry so I must be doing something right. If I ever do a figure contest, I'll count calories then.

Eating at Night

This is an area of controversy for people. Many schools of thought tell you not to eat at night because you are more sedentary at night and thus less likely to burn any calories that you ate and they will get stored as fat. Other schools of thought say that it is ok to eat at night, in fact it is beneficial because the nighttime is when your muscles are the most at-risk of eating themselves.

I used to subscribe to the first school of thought, which sucked because I remember many nights going to bed hungry.

Calorie for calorie, as long as you consume less than you burn, you won't gain fat eating at night-- but, you can't just eat any ol' thing at night. You should eat protein. Pure protein, with maybe a little fat if you haven't had your fat serving for the day. Something like almond butter or peanut butter or avocado. By pure protein I mean a protein shake, or if you want something more substantial, scrambled egg whites, or 4 oz chicken breast, or both. Green veggies are ok too but not tons.  This way your muscles have something for the 6-9 hours you aren't feeding them, and they can really repair and grow.

I have been drinking 1 scoop of protein around 9:00pm or so when I start winding down for bed. I don't chug and then sleep- there is probably a solid 1.5 hours between consumption and sleeping, but it is late. I don't do this on nights where I ate a late-ish dinner though. It has to have been at least 2+ hours since my last meal.

I really think this is helping in my recovery process. I am shocked by my lack of soreness, and visible muscle tone.

Water.

See my purple Nalgene bottle on the right? This nifty bottle sits on my desk at work all day, and lucky me I sit right near the "water cooler" (lol). It's 32 oz, so 4 of these equals one gallon. I try my damndest to drink 3+ of these per day during work hours. Then in the evenings, at home I drink water all evening long too. So I figure I am drinking a gallon of water per day.

Water is magic. Read here for more info on that.


Lifting Heavy, Lifting Often

I am lifting weight as heavy as I can and still perform 10-12 reps with proper form. Sometimes I end up doing only 6 or 8 reps on my last set.

In the past I have told myself "you already have a good muscle base, you should probably just focus on cardio to burn fat." But that is just a myth people buy in to. I am finally taking the advice of thousands of fitness professionals and making lifting the primary focus, instead of a supplement to cardio. I lift 5 days per week right now, focusing on 1 or 2 body parts per day. The intense explosions that happen within the muscle when you lift heavy are metabolism fire-starters, and produce HGH - human growth hormore, plus other good things which I'll expand on in the future.

Alreadyt seeing some great stuff in my chest/shoulders/biceps.

Cardio

Like I just said, I am spending a lot of time lifting and getting a good sweat going that way.  My typical gym routine is to lift intensly for 30 minutes then cap it of with 15-30 minutes of treadmill interval bursts. I'm olny doing 15-30 minutes sessions because I just don't want to spend 45 minutes on an elliptical machine. I have no mind for it. I am really into doing really fast, intense running spurts followed by a walking recovery. Then I'll walk fast for a few minutes before doing another crazy sprint burst. I just feel so alive that way. I think it will make me a fast runner overall too as I get used to the fast spurts and can last longer each time.
I also run outside on my lunch breaks if that's all I have time for. Running outside is a different animal than the treadmill. I like both.


Being Prepared

Just like a boy scout. I can't stress enough how much of this lifestyle involves being prepared. Nothing just happens. You have to grocery shop, prepare food and portion it out, and wash dishes, and remember to grab your food before you leave the house, and pack your gym bag, and remember your ipod, and socks, and shoes, and clean workout clothes, and gym lock, and earphones, and water bottle, and post-workout fuel.....it's EXHAUSTING! But, it is doable. You just have to plan. And roll with things that come up.

Speaking of rolling with punches.... As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I made an awesome squash soup yesterday, which I had for my meals today and was planning to have tomorrow. Well this afternoon my boss asked me to travel on the company plane to our Illinois facility. So already I'm thinking "damn, no run at lunch...and hmmm what about my meals? The soup doesn't really travel well, so what am I going to do?" I knew I was going to have to make food for my trip. After work I walked to the co-op for a few ingredients and threw together a healthy garbanzo/diced chicken breast/pea shoot/diced zucchini/diced green pepper/toasted walnut/arugula/lentil salad. I spiced it with chili powder, lemon pepper, a splash of apple cider vinegar and some Udo's oil. Bam! Power food. Then I portioned it into my little containers that I can grab and I won''t have to worry about the volatility of soup transport. lol :)

Today was a rest day. Tomorrow is a big back day with some cardio to boot. I'm just going to go straight to the gym as soon as the plane lands tomorrow evening.



Sunday Funday

Today was day 30 of the endeavor. I am starting to see real results which is super motivating.

Another great day of training and clean eating to add to the bank. Did shoulders and ran intervals on the treadmill. I made butternut squash soup with lentils, chicken, and arugula for dinner and for lunch the next few days.

So after a weeked with the house to myself, beatiful sunny fall weather, and the Mad Men season finale (that ended like 2 minutes ago) this was a perfect weekend.

I have a big meeting in the morning so I need to leave the house by 6:15 am, looking dolled up and professional. Yikes! I work at a bike company so the standard uniform is jeans and tennys. Time to put on my business lady pants.

26

Today is day 26. I ran 3 miles at lunch today, and went to the Y afterwork for Back, Shoulders, and 20 minutes of treadmill intervals. Had a protein shake immediately after, then came home and made an egg white/veggie scramble for dinner. I'm super tired right now!

Went to a wedding on Sunday and had 2 glasses of wine and ate the food being served there. It was a pig roast complete wish mac and cheese, cornbread, and dessert. So delicious! That was day 23, and it was a well deserved splurge. It kind of threw me off a little because it happened on a Sunday and that is usually a day that I cook my meals for the next few days, but I just cooked Monday evening instead. I had to get creative for my meals Monday during the day though, went to the Copps salab bar for my lunch break. Went to the Y after work and did glutes and cardio intervals, although my glute workout wasn't the best because I didn't have proper fuel in my body. I should have had some carbs + protein 30 min to an hour before but I hadn't had anything to eat in several hours. Gotta give those muscles something to work with! It all goes back to being prepared.

I also had some cheat food yesterday, a friend came over and we ordered pizza and watched TV. I just really felt like it, work had been a bitch and I wanted to just relax and decompress. There aren't many days like that for me these days so I'm just moving right along with my clean eating and workouts otherwise. Although I thouroughly enjoyed the cheat.

Got my body fat tested on Tuesday Oct 12th. The last time I had it tested was June 22nd, 16 weeks prior. My body fat stayed exactly the same, but I had gained 5 lbs- of muscle. Damn! I knew I had gained lbs since June, I mean I've only been working out and eating right for a few weeks now, so that means I had June through September to get more out of shape. I guess I am just surprised that what I did gain was all muscle.

The report that this body fat test generates gives you some great information, it basically tells you how much you will weigh at what body fat percentage as long as you preserve your lean mass, meaning the only weight you lose is fat. Based on my 144.6 lbs of lean muscle, if I weighed 166 lbs I will be at 15% body fat- that is pretty low for a female, as normall healthy range is low 20's.

166 pounds? Isn't that what people weigh in thier "before" pictures? Granted, the lowest I've weighed in my adult life has been 175 lbs, and I have gained alot of muscle since then, but I am just surprised that number is so high. You can see a six-pack around 14% body fat or less, so that means if I weigh 162-164 pounds I'll have a visible six pack. Holy cow! I am so glad I got my numbers done because before, I was aiming to get down to 153 lbs, but that would something be like 6% body fat- which is too low for realisticness. Maybe if I were competing, but not for my current purposes and you could never maintain that.

Now if I were to lose lean muscle along with fat, that number would change, but why would I want to lose an ounce of lean muscle? I will study up o specifics and blog about why I am better off keeping all lean muscle and being 15% body fat at 166 lbs, than losing lean muscle and being 15% body fat at 150 lbs.

Anywho. So I shall strive to preserve all the lean muscle I can, while burning fat fat fat.

amen.

Got Ur Self A...

Day 22 today. Still at it! No alcohol in 24 days and no sugar in 22 days. Consistant clean eating and regular workouts. yay!

Got some new gym shoes Thursday, and I love them. Here's a hipsta pic:

I used to be an Adidas girl, now I'm into Asics. This is my second pair of this style of Asics. Its a super warm (for October) sunny day today so I'm going to ride my bike to the gym in a little while. Then later this evening I'm going to go to the Bodies exhibit at Hildale. Its that exhibit where they have cadavers on display, with skin removed so you can see the preserved muscles and organs. I've been wanting to go to one of these exhibits since I first heard about them a few years ago. I love anatomy and physiology, I used to want to be a Doctor.

Intensity

I was determined to get a good glute/chest workout in today. I was going to go to the gym at lunch, but the way my day was going it was a getting late and I didn't want to be rushed so I went on a quick (ha!) 2 mile run instead.

Still determined to get my glutes/chest workout in, I went straight home after work, changed into my gym clothes and went over to the Y to push some weight around. See I want to do big lifting days on Wednesdays and Thursdays so I can go heavy Saturdays and Sundays too. Fridays are my rest days. This pattern has just worked itself out to be like this. Monday and Tuesday are cardio days, and I will eventually do yoga on Monday evenings if I ever get the balls to sign up.

I read an article on bodybuilding.com about intensifying your workouts, both cardio and weight lifting, to maximize results, preserve the most muscle, and burn the most fat. You mean I don't have to do an hour of boring steady-state cardio, and I get to lift like an animal?? Sign me up!!! I decided to apply that approach to my training. No nonsense, no time-wasting, just beautifully intense.

The way to intensify cardio is obvious, just do HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) which I already do. In the weight room, the way to go intense is to lift heavy, only 8-12 reps, and cut way down on rest time in between sets moving from one move to the next. I tried it out tonight. It was awesome! I was pouring sweat half-way through and really got my heart rate up.

I am a little concerned about my  knees. They were feeling fine up until after my run today. Today was my third day in a row running outside and I know better than that. My body is not conditioned enough to have high-impact three days in a row like that. Oh well! Took an extra glucosamine and fish oil this evening, and I'll rest them the next two days at least.
Tomorrow is back and core, plus shoulders/bis/tris. I might break it up into two workouts if I need to. We'll see.

***

Here is how I'm keeping track of everything, my master spreadsheet. The smiley faces are perfect clean eating days, and then I write in my workouts. Not too complex. On the right side I have columns tracking dates, days, and weight.

If you can't tell from the smiley faces, my eating has been perfect. Made more turkey meatloaf muffins last night, and paired them with broccoli, eggplant, and spaghetti squash. I am considering today and tomorrow "lower carb" days in my attempt to psudeo carb cycle.

Carb cycling is where you cycle low carb and higher carb days. Since any excess carbs that don't get used by your body as fuel get stored as fat, if you go lower with carbs you up your chances of not storing fat and making your body use fat as an option for fuel. You have to keep the protein up though, because the last thing you want to do is sacrifice an ounce of that hard-earned muscle by burning it as fuel.

The high carb days are to carb up and replenish your glycogen stores, to remind your body there isn't a shortage of food so it doesn't go into fat hoarding mode. It is a great method but a tricky game to play. I don't want to eat any carbs I shouldn't but I also want to give my body plently of energy so I feel great and can get in solid quality workouts. I just do what makes my body feel best.

I have had ZERO sugar since starting this thing. The only artifical sweetener I'll use is Stevia, which is actually not artificial, it is a plant extract. However, now that I have gone so long without any sugar and my blood sugars are constantly stablized, I don't need stevia in my coffee or oatmeal anymore, the two places I was using it. How about that? Pretty cool.

So all in all great day, things are going well, little worried about the knees but planning to rest them. No running until Saturday or Sunday.

BORING

Went running at lunch today. Got home from work and just felt bored. Its not like I don't have things I could be doing- cleaning, reading, organizing, etc. but I just didn't FEEL like doing anything. I already cooked yesterday so I'm good there through tomorrow eve. I thought about going to the gym for a second sesh but after my intense weekend all my muscles are sore and in repair stage, and my legs were tired from not only lifting but from running. I am being cautious as to not going too hardcore at first. There is something to be said about easing into things to prevent injury. I don't like the term "easing" into it because I bust my ass at the gym and I push myself on my runs, but I haven't gotten to the twice a day workout stage. My eating is on lock, so as long as I am consistant with that and getting in consistant good quality workouts I'm going to get there. I guess I'm a little hard on myself when I have downtime and am not excersizing. This is where I think I need to sign up to do hot yoga. I'm not there yet.

Haha, downtime. My friends with kids would roll their eyes about that, but what can I say? I have no kids, no pets, no plants, no boyfriends.....but I do have expanded cable. I ended up planking on the floor in the living room watching Hoarders. That show is gross. TV really does rot your brain. Then I had some chai tea with some stevia and almond milk. just a splash!

Tomorrow I am going to run at lunch, and lift after work. I'm doing chest for sure, and maybe glutes but my hamstrings and quads still hurt so I'm not sure. I love feeling my muscles get tighter and I love being sore. I'm glad I am not as sore as was the first week - holy cow that was bad. I will also do core tomorrow. Planks, bicycles, snd the captains chair. I need to get a solid arm day in on Wednesday. So far I've just piddled around with AJ's weights at home and get my bis/tris/shoulders sore enough where they hurt the next day but never a routine til failure like I do back/chest/legs.

I'm making it a point not to weigh myself for the first few weeks here, because I don't care so much about the number and I don't want to get discouraged. I feel slimmer though and can definitly tell in my face already. All over really, I just feel a bit more slim and toned. My fitness is also increasing. Everytime I run I can go faster, longer.

atta girl.

What's Cookin

DJ Baby Bok Choy

I sure do a lot of cooking these days. I'm basically on a pattern where I have to cook every other day, sometimes I can swing it til the third day. I don't like pre-making meals for too many days ahead of time because I get freaked out about the freshness, and I don't like freezing them because I've never done that and I don't know how they'll reheat.

So today I had to do make food for Monday and Tuesday. I eat one container at 1:00 and one at 4:00, and one for dinner at 7:00. I try to taper the carb content a bit so that the meal I eat in the evenings is more just protein and fibrous carb, not starchy carbs.

Here is what I made today:

• baked boneless/skinless chicken breast
• steamed baby bok choy
• quinoa - the inca red kind (first time!)
• baked cubed sweet potato
• swiss chard sauted in coconut oil with garlic, then red pepper flakes and lime.



Look how colorful! The chicken is on the bottom.

...And the cooking didn't stop there.

Every morning I eat a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. I usually add a partial scoop of protein powder to give it more substance. Ideally, I would eat egg whites too, but I just don't have time in the mornings to do all that cooking. It is a feat just getting out the door on time. So I was reading an old issue of Oxygen magazine the other night, and I found a recipe for these veggie-egg white bites this fitness model invented. You bake them in muffin tins to get individual servings and voila! Egg whites ready to go. She uses mini muffin tins but I just have regular size so I used those.

Egg Whites to Go
1 small box egg whites
1 small onion diced and sauted
1 shallot diced and sauted
1 small summer squash
1 small zucchini

Preheat oven to 350. Cut up the veggies; saute the onion and shallot in a bit of coconut or olive oil. Spoon diced vegetables into each muffin tin. Salt and pepper each pile of veggies. Open container of egg whites and pour over veggies into the muffin tins. They don't rise much so you can fill them as little or as much as you want. I just filled them til they covered the veggies. Bake for about 30 minutes or until they are done.

Here is what they look like:



egg whites to go!

I am so happy to have found a way to get high quality protein in the mornings! The benefit of solid food over protein powder is the thermic effect that is caused by the digestion process of eating solid food. And of all foods, protein burns the hottest, followed by complex carbs.

I'm getting ready to go watch Sunday night Mad Men (yay) and do my nails. This week went great and I am looking foward to tomorrow.

Lift Life

Day 16

It was a killer workout weekend for me. Yesterday was leg/glutes and chest plus 30 minutes of cardio. I did 5 different leg/glute moves for a total of 13 sets of 12 reps, and for chest I did 6 sets of 12.

I really feel like I got my post-workout nutrition on point yesterday. I had packed a scoop of quick-absorb protein in my new Pro shaker, and brought 8 oz of carrot juice with, so as soon as I finished stretching I went back to the locker room and mixed up the juice and some water with the protein and drank it right there so it could replenish my glycogen stores and sweep that protein up into those hungry muscles.

I just love working out on the weekends. I can actually take my time, and really make it count. Plus the gym is always slow, so there is no waiting for equipment or distractions.


 Today was back and triceps. I really like working my back, when I first got into lifting I didn't any other back exercises besides lat pull downs, but now I've rounded that up with a mix that hits each main back area.

I'm proud of my effort with cardio today. I was feeling pretty good, so after I warmed up walking on the treadmill I would kick it up to a fast run pace and try to hang on for 90-120 seconds. Then I'd walk 3 more minutes and repeat until it had been 30 minutes.  I can already feel my fitness improving, which is motivating. I ended my sesh with some ab work- planks, bicycle crunches and some pilates work.




just tea. no sugar, no sweeteners.

 Sunday afternoon and I'm getting ready to cook. AGAIN. No breaks there, I tell ya what. It is a bit tedious, but when I do cook I make sure it is for at least 2 days worth, and frankly, its not like I'm doing anything else with my time as this is my number one priority. Plus cooking is kind of zen for me.

I was stoked to learn that the co-op serves slow-cooked oatmeal at their salad bar in the mornings. An 8oz container ended up costing me $.94 cents, which is costly when you consider what oats cost, but well worth the price for the convenience. I had just walked over there this morning to get a coffee to drink while I cooked my oats at home, but bam! There it was. And it was delicious. I cooked up 3 egg whites to go on the side and had my dark coffee mixed with unsweetenedd chocolate almond milk for a wholesome power breakfast. Buying pre-made oatmeal was a huge treat, it tasted better than mine and was like my version of Sunday brunch. I wish I could afford to buy it everyday....but that would be fiscally irresponsible and along with this fitness endeavor I'm getting my finances in line too.

Ok, time to go cut up veggies and bake some chicken. again. :)

Do Work

It's a crispy cool fall  morning. I love these kinds of days. Last night I got home from work and was feeling insatible. Its been a few weeks since I've gone out, and the thought of reading, or watching a movie bored me. I wanted to be around people. So, I ended up going to my local hangout bar to chat with my ladies. It was good to see everyone. I just had a few club sodas and left at midnight. I wasn't even remotely tempted to have a drink, which is cool. I think I am getting to the point where I've got enough days going in my streak that nothing is worth it to break that streak. Today is day 15 for the plan, and 17 for no drinking.

I have a wedding to attend next Sunday. The bride is my friend at work and she's very into this open bar she's having. I'll see how I feel by then, but as it stands now I don't want to drink then either. Why break the streak and set myself back a day or two? Now if I get there, and I really want a cocktail I'm going to have one.

I have to go to the gym now. Today is leg/glutes, and chest, plus 45 minutes of cardio. I do work.