Reality

So I had a little brush with reality this morning. Here I am cruising along, no I haven't been losing weight, but I haven't been gaining either. I eat pretty well, most of the time, and I work out consistantly, if not intensely. All in all I'm living the maintenance lifestyle I figure. Yeah I can do this long term.

But I'd like to be kick ass amazing for just a little while here so bring on BFL. This morning I took my starting measurements, just next to measurements I'd taken a dozen times since starting this whole thing. Last time was in May, I was expecting similar results. Clothes still basically fit the same, scale is exactly the same. So imagine my suprise when I see I'd GAINED AN INCH just about everywhere! WTF! Somewhere in here things went bad, so even though the scale was the same, the muscle was gone (from lack on intensity) and fat had replaced it (from the most of the time eating well thing). Well I'm glad that I did that. Granted it was after breakfast and I usually do it before, but that would not affect my thigh size, maybe belly. I also took before pictures in my awesome polka dot bikini (that I don't think I told you about. Yes I bought another $70 bathing suit this summer and haven't worn it yet...) Pictures are coming, we'll give them their own post.

On the way home from work yesterday I stopped at the grocery store, just to stock up on a few things for my new plan. Mostly just salad greens as I ran out. But I spent $50 and bought lots of fruits and veggies, cans of salmon, fat free miracle whip, egg white cartons, fibre cereal. I even put the fibre cereal in the cupboard and took the not so healthy chocolate cereal (though it's not as bad as you'd think) and put it away. see you in 12 weeks. So I got home all set to do my awesome first night of intensity right? I cooked a perfect supper, chicken and veggie stir fry. Ate half of what I made, so it really worked out to about 1.5 chicken breasts and a couple cups of veggies (in soy sauce and chicken stock and garlic, high sodium but I can deal). Instead of cooking rice or couscous with it (though I should have for poor hubby, I forget how men eat sometimes) I just ate it with a big bowl of cherries for dessert. I got my protein, carb and vegetable servings in right there. Oh and I also cooked with no oil since I don't need it. I did have a glass of milk, I'll have to check what that falls under.

Then I went outside and cut the grass. Planning on doing that, seeding a few bare spots and then hitting the weights. So I finish cutting the grass, and it was sort of wet so I tried to flip it over to clean out the blades (yes it's shut off!). I turn it one way and gas starts leaking out. No good. So I tried to turn it the other way and I grabbed something I shouldn't have (do lawnmowers have radiators?) and I burned my hand. I immediately ran to the tap and ran cold water for a few minutes. I burned my right hand, my middle 3 fingers. Right across the joints where they bend in. So that was at like 7:30. It hurt for the rest of the night until I fell asleep. I kept going back to the cold water, or an ice pack. I'd do that for 10 minutes then it would be too cold so I'd stop. Then it would start throbbing again. It was dumb. I hate burns too. When I was little I burned my hand on the barbeque (I used to use it as railing when learning how to walk, since we didn't have railing on our front porch, but this time it was on...) I had to go to the emergency room and all I remember is the doctor coming at me with these hockey stick shaped scissors and screaming. Plus I remember my mom and dad being scared and stressed, I was the first born. ;) Anyway, a few years after that we watched some video in school about fires and there were burns and burn victims on it (why do you show that in grade 2?) and I got sick and barfed and had to go home. Burns really really freak me out, the way that I'm sure I'm going to die in a fire or something horrible, I just have this irrational fear of them.

So I burned my hand. How was I supposed to be kick ass and intense in my weights when I couldn't hold a dumbell or put my hand on the ground for a pushup?

I wasn't too intense. But I still did it! I had to do pushups and planks with my hand on the ice pack, rest dumbells on my shoulders for squats, there were dumbell swings (ideally kettlebell but dumbells work) and I just used some crazy grip for those. I was tired at the end of each exercise, but not sweaty, and not out of breath or anything and my muscles didn't hurt. They were tired, I couldn't do another push up, but I couldn't even tell you which muscle was giving out. That's the thing with all these multi muscle exercises, I'm sure the wrong muscle fatigues first for me so I never REALLY feel it. Maybe I should do the actual body for life exercises? Theyr'e like 5 sets of just bicepts, then 5 sets of just hamstrings, just shoulders. What do you think? Angie, I especially want to hear your opinion as I know you listen to and read the same sort of things as I do, body part split as opposed to full body? Full body workouts are for fatloss right?

I could do some laundry but that's about it for the rest of the day for me (everything was taking longer because I'd have to ice my hand in the middle of everything). Hubby had to take off too, a guy he works with is having some major major life drama (recovering alcoholic, fell off the wagon, took a leave of absence from work because he's trying to get his kids in a custody battle, seems like a tv show, not somebody we actually know). He was having some kind of issue and called us, just felt like he shouldn't be alone or he'd do something dumb. Needed somebody to talk to. Hubby said that I was busy so he went himself. I would have gone, though I don't know this guy at all. He and hubby aren't even really friends, just work together. Sort of some excitement/drama when he called though. I went to bed and finished my book and read some of the Abs magazine (don't recommend it, unless you want to see dozens and dozens of different ab exercises. I'm not even a fan of ab exercises, I can feel the abs there, I need to get rid of the fat shirt on top of them. Plus, I made my waist wider when doing oblique exercises, I build muscle like that.)

Anyway. Today my hand doesn't hurt, unless I try and bend it too far. So tonight I'm going to do my HIIT. I still haven't found my Garmin. I hate how I lose stuff all the time. I have no idea where it might be. I had at at my July 1st race, then took it off in the SUV when we were eating and shopping, assumed it would be with my purse or the other bags we had, but we unpacked all that last week. I can't think where I would have put it when unpacking and hubby doesn't remember seeing it. Maybe it's under the seat in the SUV or something still. I do things like this all the time, but seriously, I can't see it having fallen out of the car or been stolen, so it's SOMEWHERE, but I have no clue. I'm sure it will turn up in 3 months or something.

Anyway, i'm taking off early this afternoon to go shoe shopping with my sister. She's going to Europe with her boyfriend in September and wants good walking shoes that aren't ugly. Plus I have no work at all to be doing. In fact, I'm the most senior person here right now so there's nobody even to assign anything to me. Nor for the rest of the week. It's nice when there's no guilt associated with that. I even slept in this morning and then went to the university so people would assume that's where I was all morning. Sweet. So I'm gonna do some trip planning. Still open for ideas regarding trips to (Drumheller) Calgary and Banff. Recommended stops, reading etc.