I'm tired today; I haven't slept well in the past three nights. I'm looking forward to my work out today, can tell that my waistline has been shrinking, and i've come up with some different snacks. Was able to go grocery shopping yesterday and make some meals all relatively quickly. I'm getting a better hang of this food thing, which is great.
But I feel tired. And work isn't very busy and I always feel dejected when work isn't busy. Even though I had two calls about work on Friday, my other two projects are not a perfect fit, and I'm feeling down in the dumps about "paying my dues." I've been at this for four years - how many more years of paying my dues, clawing up from the bottom, do i have?
Deadlifts:
1x5x40
1x5x50
1x10x60
1x10x70
forgot to do a 3rd set of 70lbs. went back to do at end of workout, but another guy was using the 70lbs barbell. i was going to use the other one, but it was at the top of the rack (about 4' 8" high) and i wasn't feeling confident to get the barbell off the rack... So I left it.
dumbbell press
1x10x10
1x10x12
1x10x15
wide lat pull down
1x10x7
2x10x6
lunge
1x10x30
2x12x40
was tired, knees felt wonky.
Last week by the end of the week, I was tired. Very physically tired. After my workout on Friday I had a protein shake and a beer and just couldn't regain any energy. I went home and had a smoothy with plain yogurt (3%mf), vanilla protein powder, berries, and milk and sat for 1 hour and felt much much better.
Since a lot of the groceries in my fridge for last week were still in my fridge on Sunday, I realize that I wasn't eating very well. Why? Because I've changed my schedule from getting up at 6am and catching the train at 7 to getting up at 7:30 and getting the train at 9. So when I get to work, the snacking is different and I don't eat as much. But I've fixed all my snacks for today and will get through all my food!
My food for today:
breakfast: plain yogurt (5%mf) and raspberries. gotta love that high fat yogurt. Olympia brand, a fantastic plain yogurt. also had some cherries.
snack: carrots, snap peas, baby tomatoes
lunch: spanish pisto (something made in the slow cooker, not sure what's in it, but there is pork, i believe. it's been in the freezer for a while)
snack: strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries.
snack: deli meat and cheese
after workout: protein shake
dinner: bbq pork and corn and asparagus
snack: perhaps some sorbet! with raspberries and blackberries!
ok, that's a lot of food. not sure i'll get through it all now. heh, i'm sure i'll be able to pack it away.
i believe i've lost most of the vacation fat around my waste. i'm back to "normal." i thought i might take my pics at the end of stage 1 instead of a month later (which would be now).
i see that my eating habits are changing. ok, so i had two gin and tonics yesterday, 1.5 ciders on sunday, 2 g&ts and two glasses of wine on saturday, and probably 2 g&ts on friday. when I don't track things, I forget how much i've eaten or drank, and now i see that YES, I HAD A LOT TO DRINK ON THE WEEKEND. My goal for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, is to have nothing to drink. Gotta start somewhere.
i'm totally craving chocolate and peanut butter, as in a chocolate peanut butter cup or cookie. I wasn't going to get a cookie, but there's a super good cookie place by my work and i figured one would be ok (they're not huge, maybe the size of a flat tennis ball) and I went, but the store was "Back in 5 Minutes."
so I didn't get my coffee today, didn't go buy reeses peanut butter cups, or get that cookie... but i might get that cookie on the way home!
Hmm... Today I'm feeling really dizzy, lightheaded, and tired, at times I'm also feeling nauseous. As far as I know and the test says, I'm not pregnant. I felt this way yesterday, too. So what could it be?
Today's eats:
Breakfast: Oatmeal with brown sugar and an iced latte
Snack: carrots, snap peas, baby tomatoes, cashews
Lunch: Protein shake, whole wheat spagetti with tomato-meat sauce
Snack: iced latte
I'll have some berries later today and then dinner.
Maybe I'm just sick or something. The right side of my face is swollen, too, and I'm supposing it's an allergic reaction to something.
I don't feel like I'm craving or lacking anything.
LOL. Sometimes I'm sooooo silly.
So the right side of my face has been hurting and is a bit swollen, I was thinking I was having an allergic reaction to something so I took some benadryl. And I believe the side affects of that are drowsiness and dizziness.
Phew.
Could have been the sugar rush with the oatmeal & sugar this morning. Or, could just be fighting off a little virus, change in weather, or some hormonal thing. My energy levels can vary with my hormonal cycle. (PFF.) Sounds like it's perfect timing with giving up the booze for a few days so your body can tackle whatever it is causing the fatigue.
You are doing well on your squats by the way. Are you getting your butt down low so that your thighs are parallel to the floor at bottom? You might try squatting at home in front of Chris and have him check your form. Have him tell you when your thigh is parallel (or your hip joint is even with your knee) so you know what it feels like, then go that low at the gym. Most people aren't going parallel so they're not getting as much of a range of motion as they could be. Not to say that you aren't, but it's worth a check.
Your shoulder presses are impressive as well. I think I'm only at 20e on those (25e on push presses); they're really hard for me when I'm doing 10-15 reps. ugh.
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"If 'toning' is the goal, strength is the method." ~ Mark Rippetoe
There is a mirror right in front of the squat thing, so I make sure i get parallel. sometimes i don't feel like going all the way down, but i do anyway. i get so low that i can't go no lower (and still come back up).
it's weird, the dizziness isn't in the morning. today, at noon, after having a salad with bacon, egg, tomato, lettuce, and cucumber, i was standing at the skytrain and felt dizzy.
Deadlift:
3x8x70 - actually, i'd use more weight on these if i could get the heavy bar off the weight rack. i think i'll investigate using the olympic bar for these.
Dumbbell shoulder press:
8x15e
8x20e
8x15e (tried with 20, but couldn’t get them up... at all!)
Wide grip lat pulldown
4x7 + 4x6 slats (too much weight)
7x7 normally the first set is a warmup so I was able to get through most of the second set. i think i'll do a warmup set for these, then get into the real sets.
8x6 – couldn’t even pull down the bar with 7 slats
BUT some of the wimpier looking men in the gym are using 8 slats, so technically speaking, pound for pound, I could probably kick their asses.
Lunge
3x8x25e
My knees hurt – I believe I am not doing these correctly. I will investigate educational resources.
Also, my forearms are just not able to hold the weight for the whole set, so I have to stop, put the weights down, pick them up again, complete the set. That’s ok, I’m recording it here and will know when I improve.
Swiss ball crunch
3x12+10lbs extended
Intervals on the Lemond bike:
2 min warm up
1 min high, 1 minute low x 2 (so 4 min)
2 min high, 1 min low x 2 (so 6 min)
2 min cool down
When I was walking to the bikes before the intervals, my forearms were cramping up. I stretched them and though "god damn it forearms! you've just got to catch up, there's nothing else to it!" they've had their talking to, they'll improve.
I tried to push myself in this workout. sometimes it worked out, sometimes it didn't. afterwards while changing, i was seeing stars for about 30 seconds.
and i was looking at some of my old workout routines from the personal trainer. yeah, i was doing 10lbs bicep curls and 10lbs tricep curls, 20lbs chest press on the ball. i started this routine after i did a bootcamp and i constantly felt like i was losing muscle and gaining fat. no wonder... i don't go to that personal trainer anymore.
Here are my july and August pics. my pants today are really too big. Get this though, they're a size ZERO from Banana Republic. And they're too big. Vanity sizing is so stupid. I'll get them tailored since they're $110 pants I got for $30. (Normally I'm a size 4.)
You might be leaning forward in your lunges rather than going up & down. It's an easy mistake to make and even after months sometimes if I'm not concentrating I start to lean forward in my lunges.
I LOL'd at his comparison but it's easy to remember - be an elevator, not an escalator.
As for the DL's, definitely look into the oly bar. I use one and load the plates with the bar on the floor so I don't have to worry about unracking the loaded bar. That way, too, you can do your warmups with an unloaded oly bar then add weights for your workout.
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"If 'toning' is the goal, strength is the method." ~ Mark Rippetoe
Or, could just be fighting off a little virus, change in weather, or some hormonal thing. My energy levels can vary with my hormonal cycle. (PFF.) Sounds like it's perfect timing with giving up the booze for a few days so your body can tackle whatever it is causing the fatigue. 
Linear Mode
