Day 5 - 3/4

I was out grocery shopping late last night with Ameme until around 11:30pm, which is why this post is going up today & not yesterday.

Thursday's day off from working out was just what I needed.  Yesterday's workout (1, 3, 5, 7, 5, 7, 5, 3, 5, 3, cool down) was really good; I got through it with no problem, no struggle.  I mean, it wasn't an easy workout, but that little voice that usually wants to give up was noticeably silent.

I have a confession to make.  I'm a scale watcher.  Yeah, yeah, I know the scale is not the only indicator of how I'm doing, but I'm powerless to not weigh in.  The scale to me is almost larger than life, like the refrigerator was to Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for A Dream (but not nearly as creepy).  By the way, if you haven't seen this movie, put it on your MUST SEE list.

That being said, I'm only counting my weekly (Monday) weigh-ins as official; the other weigh-ins are just me satisfying my secret jones.

The Man and I went swimming (again, I'm playing fast and loose with the word "swimming"), but I did do some laps.  We were there for about 45 minutes.  Although somewhat refreshing at the end of a long week, they must have had the heat down and it was too chilly for my taste.

So what did I eat today?

• Water:  16.9 ozs
• Multigrain oatmeal with milk & coffee.  Around 300 cals.
• Grilled chicken on whole wheat Tuscan pane with lettuce & 1tbsp of mayo.  About 450 cals.
• Little slivers of snacking.  On the high side, I'm going to say around 300 cals.
• Another small coffee - 100 cals.
• Banana - Around 100 cals.
• Protein bar - 170 cals.

Approx. 1420 cals less 324 I burned off = net 1096 cals.

Day 1

On weekdays, I'm typically up between 4:30 - 5am so I can take The Man to the train station, then back home for some quiet time until around 5:50 or so when I drive back over to the gym, which opens at 6am.  I've decided that morning workouts will be cardio since I know myself and if I get too far into the day, it won't happen.

I'm a big fan of the elliptical trainer. I'm doing a pyramid (resistance levels 1, 3, 5, 7, 5, 7, 5, 3 ,1 ,3). I start out on level 1, which is sort of a warm-up, then change levels every 3 minutes, going up in resistance on the front end to 3, 5, 7, flexing a little bit between 5 & 7 during the middle, then back down the stack on the back end of my workout. This is a 30-minute pyramid, with an extra 3 minutes for cooling down (grand total is 33 minutes).  And during those 3-minute blocks, I pedal/run forward for 2 minutes, then backwards for 1 minute.

Gotta say, I really don't know how people make it through elliptical/bicycle/treadmill without some distraction;  cardio machines are boring.  For me, it's my iPhone and my Pandora app. For those of you unfamiliar with Pandora, it's fantastic, almost like satellite radio, except that you can sort of customize what you're listening to by artist, songs, genre, etc. For example, one of my stations is "Led Zeppelin" and what Pandora does is play songs not only from Zep, but from other artists of like kind/era/style, so today was a mix of Zep, Pink Floyd, Lynyrd Skynyrd & I think Creed.  I also have some other "stations" for 90's Hip Hop and Big Band.  Check it out at www.pandora.com.

So what did I eat today?

• 33.8oz of water (and I'll have another 16.9oz before I go to bed).  I'm pushing to get my water intake up to a gallon a day.
• Multigrain oatmeal - this stuff is delicious.  I get it from Trader Joe's and it's oats with barley & some other grains, so it has texture to it.  A little bit of turbinado sugar and some evaporated milk . . . yum.  With my coffee, about 300 cals.
• Thai noodles with chicken & shredded carrots (also from Trader Joe's).  About 600 cals.
• Nut & berry snack.  About 170 cals.
• 1/2 a protein bar.  About 150 cals.
• Baked chicken with a medley of baby potatoes, baby bella mushrooms & baby spinach (do I have a theme going on?).  I'm guessing around 600 cals.

I'm ballparking around 1900 cals for the day.  Minus the 330 I worked off this morning, net 1570 cals.

Obviously, I need to up my veggie intake, so tomorrow I'll take a salad with grilled chicken for lunch & skip the noodles.  And concentrate on increasing my water intake.

Yes, I did weigh in today, but I'm still not going to tell you what the scale said.  And you're probably wondering how you'll know my integrity is intact when I make these posts?  Good question.  For those who know me, they know that whatever I say it is -- it is.  For those who don't, I'm going to enlist a friend to be the Keeper of the Weights.   

Because I can't fully expect you to support me and take this journey without some reward, I will reveal ALL the weights -- every weight from now until the end -- on May 29th, as well as whatever dress size I happen to fit at that time.  This I promise, even if I somehow go astray and gain weight.