Weight: 142.0
Well there seems to be a strong correlation between me not following through on my goals and me not keeping this blog updated. Perhaps... I feel guilty and don't want to admit failure? Surely not! :) At any rate, I went away for a weekend, succumbed to a nasty head cold, took a long time to recover, and then immediately following that I fell into some serious stress and anxiety in my personal life. Anyway, everything is happily resolved, (except for some lingering phlegm from the cold) and I'm ready to take stock of my health and fitness.
On the one hand, I haven't gone to Kung Fu/San Shou in 3 weeks, and I'm pretty certain I won't renew in January, so that's pretty much a giant failure. Well, no, it was a great experience that I hope to build on in the future, so that's good. I have managed to make it to my weekly ultimate frisbee league game, so I haven't been completely inactive. Also, I've been doing daily sets of jumping pull-ups in our doorway pullup bar, and I can now consistently do a single deadhang pull-up completely cold, no warmup required. In fact, a few days ago after feeling good and warm I managed two consecutive deadhangs! I haven't managed to replicate that performance yet, but I think it's really just a matter of time now. I haven't been keeping up as well on the handstand pushups though, and I doubt I've progressed much there since I'm not getting the added benefit of extra regular pushups at San Shou.
On the food front, I succumbed to the holiday sugary latte drinks for a brief stint, (Coinciding with when I got sick. Cause? Effect? Correlation? Ah well, good reinforcement to eat well, I guess.) but I shook that off and am sticking to yummy unsweetened teas when I'm feeling cold. I've also been eating somewhat smaller lunches and not snacking as much throughout the day which has been working out fairly well for me. I'm really enjoying focusing on the quality of my food, even despite the added expense and limited restaurant options.
So with San Shou getting tabled I am once again contemplating gym options. I'm leaning towards the local Y, as it looks like a really nice facility and is within easy walking distance for me. Plus a friend already has a membership there, which makes for great motivation. The biggest thing before I decide will be scoping out the free weights and other exercise equipment.
I was supposed to update my pull-up and hand-stand pushup progress this week, so hopefully I'll get that done today or tomorrow.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Daily log
Monday, November 09, 2009
Stocking up
Weight: 143.6
I went to Costco yesterday! I stocked up big-time on fish oil capsules, but ended up passing on vitamin D capsules, as they are reasonably priced and sans-soybean oil at my local grocery. They had raw chicken breasts in convenient 2-breast packs, great for freezing and then thawing two at a time. I ended up passing on the large packs of nuts as the bulk bins at the local grocery again work well. Costco had very nicely priced 18-packs of omega-3 eggs, which is enough right there to get me going back there more often. (Still digging around for a source for eggs from pastured chickens, but no luck so far.) Anything else? Oh, I got a big box of sweet potatoes to try the spiced sweet potato slow-cooker recipe that I found... of course I'll only be able to have like a tablespoon of it a day to stay within my carb limit. :) The only greek yogurt they had was fat-free, so boo to that. I almost got it anyway, as I'm not eating it so much for the fat, but it wasn't really cheap enough compared to what we normally get. I'm sure I got other interesting things that I'm forgetting at the moment, but those are the highlights.
On the downside, I hadn't eaten for many hours before going, and after being there for about an hour and not really being anywhere near done I was feeling a bit dizzy. Shopping is hungry work! But considering my success with low-carb and fasting, I wonder if the shopping somehow spiked my insulin or something... You know I didn't really start feeling faint/hungry until we cut through the carb-alicious aisles. Maybe just seeing all the sugar was enough to raise my insulin and crash my blood sugar? Ah well, so we went to the uber-cheap greasy restaurant in the store, and I very foolishly ordererd a "chicken bake" instead of a hot dog. There was no way to avoid the bread when eating the chicken bake the way I could have with a hot dog, and thus I had way too many carbs yesterday. I topped off after returning home by eating a ton of strawberries. At that point I decided that trying to guess at how many carbs I had was a losing proposition, so I will just update yesterday's carb count with "a lot" and move on.
I made cheesy almond meal herb muffins last night...
Carb Log (36g):
I went to Costco yesterday! I stocked up big-time on fish oil capsules, but ended up passing on vitamin D capsules, as they are reasonably priced and sans-soybean oil at my local grocery. They had raw chicken breasts in convenient 2-breast packs, great for freezing and then thawing two at a time. I ended up passing on the large packs of nuts as the bulk bins at the local grocery again work well. Costco had very nicely priced 18-packs of omega-3 eggs, which is enough right there to get me going back there more often. (Still digging around for a source for eggs from pastured chickens, but no luck so far.) Anything else? Oh, I got a big box of sweet potatoes to try the spiced sweet potato slow-cooker recipe that I found... of course I'll only be able to have like a tablespoon of it a day to stay within my carb limit. :) The only greek yogurt they had was fat-free, so boo to that. I almost got it anyway, as I'm not eating it so much for the fat, but it wasn't really cheap enough compared to what we normally get. I'm sure I got other interesting things that I'm forgetting at the moment, but those are the highlights.
On the downside, I hadn't eaten for many hours before going, and after being there for about an hour and not really being anywhere near done I was feeling a bit dizzy. Shopping is hungry work! But considering my success with low-carb and fasting, I wonder if the shopping somehow spiked my insulin or something... You know I didn't really start feeling faint/hungry until we cut through the carb-alicious aisles. Maybe just seeing all the sugar was enough to raise my insulin and crash my blood sugar? Ah well, so we went to the uber-cheap greasy restaurant in the store, and I very foolishly ordererd a "chicken bake" instead of a hot dog. There was no way to avoid the bread when eating the chicken bake the way I could have with a hot dog, and thus I had way too many carbs yesterday. I topped off after returning home by eating a ton of strawberries. At that point I decided that trying to guess at how many carbs I had was a losing proposition, so I will just update yesterday's carb count with "a lot" and move on.
I made cheesy almond meal herb muffins last night...
Carb Log (36g):
- coffee and coconut cream - 1g
- almond meal muffins - 15g
- Cobb salad - 10g?
- dark chocolate - 8g
- jerky - 2g
Sunday, November 08, 2009
4-week check-in
Weight: 143.4
Today is my 4-week check-in. My benchmarks are the bodyweight exercises- pull-ups and handstand push-ups. I've been getting in a set or two of 5 jumping pull-ups pretty much every day, with occasional deadhang attempts. A few times I've gotten my chin just over the bar on a deadhang.... but today I warmed up and got a full on deadhang collarbone-to-bar pull-up! Woot. I rested a little and managed to do another with a bit of kicking my feet in a spastic manner.
On the handstand push-up front it's a bit harder to tell how much I'm improving, but I'm getting tons of push-ups in every time I go to a kung fu class, and can tell I'm improving there. Anyway, I tried getting a handstand push-up touching my forehead to a stack of 4 DVD cases, but no dice. I did manage to complete one to a stack of 5 cases, which is 3 inches, so that's still solid. Anyway, I'll keep getting sets in to a 7 or 6 case stack, and try again in a month.
I didn't really keep track of my carbs yesterday but I kept them fairly low.. at least under 100g. today I'll try to start keeping track again.
Carb Log: (a lot)
Today is my 4-week check-in. My benchmarks are the bodyweight exercises- pull-ups and handstand push-ups. I've been getting in a set or two of 5 jumping pull-ups pretty much every day, with occasional deadhang attempts. A few times I've gotten my chin just over the bar on a deadhang.... but today I warmed up and got a full on deadhang collarbone-to-bar pull-up! Woot. I rested a little and managed to do another with a bit of kicking my feet in a spastic manner.
On the handstand push-up front it's a bit harder to tell how much I'm improving, but I'm getting tons of push-ups in every time I go to a kung fu class, and can tell I'm improving there. Anyway, I tried getting a handstand push-up touching my forehead to a stack of 4 DVD cases, but no dice. I did manage to complete one to a stack of 5 cases, which is 3 inches, so that's still solid. Anyway, I'll keep getting sets in to a 7 or 6 case stack, and try again in a month.
I didn't really keep track of my carbs yesterday but I kept them fairly low.. at least under 100g. today I'll try to start keeping track again.
Carb Log: (a lot)
Friday, November 06, 2009
daily update
Weight: 144.0
So get this, pickles have carbohydrates in them! Normally I don't count pickles for anything, but I guess if I'm trying to keep my carbohydrates really low and I'm eating a lot of pickles, I'd better keep track.
I've been contemplating sources of probiotics in my diet, and it inspired me to have a bit of greek yogurt this morning. I need to look into non-dairy sources of probiotics though, at this rate I'm never going to manage eliminating dairy. (to see if I'm sensitive to it.)
Carb Log (51g):
So get this, pickles have carbohydrates in them! Normally I don't count pickles for anything, but I guess if I'm trying to keep my carbohydrates really low and I'm eating a lot of pickles, I'd better keep track.
I've been contemplating sources of probiotics in my diet, and it inspired me to have a bit of greek yogurt this morning. I need to look into non-dairy sources of probiotics though, at this rate I'm never going to manage eliminating dairy. (to see if I'm sensitive to it.)
Carb Log (51g):
- coffee and coconut cream - 1g
- greek yogurt - 5g
- coffee and half & half - 3g
- dark chocolate - 20g
- pickles - 4g
- almond stuffed olives - 6g
- balsamic vinegar - 2g
- kale chips - 5g
- cashews - 5g
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Mmmm....
Weight: 143.0
I think I may be eating too much chocolate...
Carb Log (35g):
I think I may be eating too much chocolate...
Carb Log (35g):
- coffee and coconut cream - 1g
- Dark chocolate - 28g
- burger toppings -1g
- almond stuffed olives - 5g
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
My Vibrams
Weight: 143.6
A few weeks ago I ordered a pair of Vibram Five Fingers. (The "classic" model.) After a bout of colder weather and a rather sad realization that they don't provide much in the way of heat retention, I've finally started to wear them more regularly. On work days I generally walk about 1.5 miles total there and back, plus whatever wandering I end up doing during lunch time. (not very much, generally.) At first the arches of my feet were a bit sore, but the main thing I feel now is my pinky toe on each foot. It's splayed out and I can feel that I'm actually using it while walking. It's exceeding odd. Anyway, I'll keep wearing them in moderation as I apparently am still building up muscle in my pinky toes. Who knew? Oh, and I definitely haven't tried running in them yet.
I'm glad the people in my office are generally supportive, though I have told everyone that they are "therapeutic" to hopefully stave off anyone thinking I'm too weird. :)
Carb Log (27g):
A few weeks ago I ordered a pair of Vibram Five Fingers. (The "classic" model.) After a bout of colder weather and a rather sad realization that they don't provide much in the way of heat retention, I've finally started to wear them more regularly. On work days I generally walk about 1.5 miles total there and back, plus whatever wandering I end up doing during lunch time. (not very much, generally.) At first the arches of my feet were a bit sore, but the main thing I feel now is my pinky toe on each foot. It's splayed out and I can feel that I'm actually using it while walking. It's exceeding odd. Anyway, I'll keep wearing them in moderation as I apparently am still building up muscle in my pinky toes. Who knew? Oh, and I definitely haven't tried running in them yet.
I'm glad the people in my office are generally supportive, though I have told everyone that they are "therapeutic" to hopefully stave off anyone thinking I'm too weird. :)
Carb Log (27g):
- coffee and coconut cream - 1g
- McD's grilled chicken wraps, minus the tortillas - 15g
- Dark chocolate - 11g
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