Upper Dorsimus

I can't really think of anything really interesting to blog about right now but I think that is sort of the point, the excitement has worn off with the "newness" and it has become routine. I eat pretty much similar things for breakfast and dinner and I try to make something more interesting for lunch. It reminds me of that scene in Anchorman:


"Oh, that's a deep burn! Oh, it's so deep.I can barely lift my right arm 'cause I did so many.I don't know if you heard me counting.I did over 1000 .You have your ubulus muscle, that connects to the upper ...dorsimus.
It's boring,but it's part of my life."

Sexy Gall Bladder

Patrick recommended 8 minute abs to us the other day and I must admit, I love it! I'm really concentrating on my ab muscles because my PCP dream is to have a super tight stomach in time for bikini season. (come to think of it, even though it is February here in Florida, most days are in the 70's which may constitute bikini season but I officially kick it off in April)


A tight tummy is a little superficial goal that keeps me motivated because I can't see how awesome and healthy my gall bladder looks.

AND NOW IT IS TIME FOR A FUN FRUCTOSE RANT:






This is just an infuriating little ditty about good ol' fashion High fructose corn syrup. Yup that's right, this is what's on American TV lately. Many versions exist but only one formula...a person commenting on the other person eating a HFCS laden food, something like

"I can't believe you're eating that thing with corn syrup."
"Why not?"
"Well you know, its uh like uh, people say.... uhhhhhhh."
"What, that its natural, and made from corn and is fine in moderation?"

Try to see them all if you haven't had the pleasure. (beware of many spoofs)

This commercial is playing off of the public lack of specific knowledge about corn syrup, just like the general public used to know little about the specific effects of nicotine. It is my opinion that high fructose corn syrup is one of the main reasons why America is dealing with an obesity epidemic. The truth is that corn syrup is much cheaper than other sweeteners, which is why these commercials have cropped up, sponsored by the caring folks over at the Corn Refiners Association. High fructose corn syrup is an inverted sugar and the molecular structure is such that your body is unfamiliar with it and so it never knows when it has had enough or too much. It is very difficult to eat in moderation if you aren't specifically avoiding it because it is in most packaged foods. Take a look at the label if you never have, it's in ketchup, almost all salad dressing, bread, canned fruits and veggies, it is even injected into meat products. Please check out the wealth of information on the subject that isn't sponsored by people making a living off HFCS.

:END RANT:

Day ???, Whats my name? Where am I?

I am not saying I wasn't warned, Patrick asked us all repeatedly before we started the project if we could dedicate a good chunk of everyday time to PCP. Of course when he asked I believed that because I had what added up to several hours a day of free time, that I could certainly work it in with ease.

ha ...HAHAHAHA.

Several new and time consuming responsibilities have come into my life and scheduling has become a nightmare. I thought I could force PCP into the cracks of time I had available but it gets insane when I leave the house at 7am and don't come back until 10 pm (not the norm but it happens). Exercising at night, trying to pack to-go fruit in my purse that just gets bruised and mushy, finding any time to read my PCP e-mails or write blogs, this week ran like an old rusty machine, with many mini wrenches jamming the cogs.

My new workout this week is to focus on my preparation and scheduling muscles.

Also I discovered kale this week. I'm not sure why I never paid any attention to this leafy green before but if you toss it in just a little olive oil and roast it at 375 for 10- 15 minutes its crispy and delicious. Kale is also packed with vitamins and minerals, yay!

Try not to think of Nirvana.

Happy Valentine's Day!



Today was a very busy day for me, up very early with only 5 hours of sleep rather than the PCP prescribed 8 hours. It has been go go go until right now at 8:30 when I'm writing this post and then off to dare my muscles to hold out for another work out.



We stared this project about a month ago and my thoughts were that it was a great time of year, with few distracting holidays to throw off the diet and routine. I have since realized that you can't escape the "special" occasion.

For me it has been Superbowl, gasparilla, family in town, birthday celebrations, now Valentine's day, followed by Marti Gras, Buzzard day (march 8th), st. Patrick's day and Easter.


Today I had a single piece of dark chocolate from my heart shaped box.


It was OK. I had 1 piece, but I once saw a TV show recently about a girl struggling to lose weight, and on Valentine's day she seriously binged, because it was a "special occasion". I admit I have owned this mentality, a little too much here and there because I got the job, because quit my job, because it's Arbor day. I could eat anything on a special occasions and if I thought hard enough any day was that special day.



Those days are over for me. I may not always do thousands of jump ropes a day or count my grams of food after PCP, but I could never approach my diet the same way again. I wasn't doing myself any favors wasting my everyday best health for my "special" occasion binges.

Treat

Today we were allowed to have a "cheat", a conservative 200 - 400 calorie break from our strict diet. I decided to try a few things just to see if my tastes have changed over the last few weeks.

I started off slow having sweet vanilla whole milk yogurt with my breakfast instead of plain fat free. It tasted so rich and delicious, I'm sure before I started PCP even the sweeter yogurt would have tasted sour, but now this yogurt tasted decadent and creamy.

For lunch I had a spinach salad like I usually do, only instead of avocados and tomatoes with balsamic vinegar, I had a salad topped with balsamic caramelized shallots, warm dried figs, and a little good quality crumbled blue cheese.-I've been dreaming about blue cheese since we began, my cravings for "junk food" is almost completely gone, I no longer want Cheetos or chocolate covered pretzels, my cravings have upgraded to better quality, but still PCP off limits food like expensive cheese and complex desserts.

In order to test this theory I tried a potato chip, the first crispy chip was great, the second also good but salty, the third was way too salty and I didn't want anymore after that.

To finish off my spree I had 2 organic ginger cookies. I could have probably eaten a sleeve of these wonderful Paul Newman cookies 6 weeks ago and still wanted more but I gave myself 2 and afterwards I felt like that was sufficient.

Very interesting experiment!

Long thin slimy ones, Short fat juicy ones...

The last 2 days I haven't felt completely like myself, as many women (hopefully some who have gone through the project) might relate to.

I've got the "nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I'm gonna eat some worms" feeling, and wishing that worms equaled chocolate cake. I let out all of my frustrations on my fellow PCPers and they couldn't have been more supportive, you guys are the greatest, and said exactly what I needed to hear to feel better and back on track. Which is especially helpful when someone is making brownies around you, (you know who you are ::death stare::) I'm so happy we're in this together, you all rock, THANK YOU!!!

This week in exercises we've moved on to pull-ups and other more challenging versions of our routine , I'm not quite there with the pull-ups but I'm happy to say that the sit-ups and squats are really building up my muscles, as is the resistance band training. Sometimes I think I'd like to cut up my jump rope, bury the pieces in my backyard and then dance on it's shallow grave, but other times I thank it for helping me turn my double chin into a single. So all is well.


AVOCADO UPDATE:
Choosing the best avocado: give it a gentle squeeze, it should not be soft enough that a gentle squeeze leaves an impression, if it stands this test give it a harder squeeze, if it still doesn't dent it's not ripe ,which may be ideal if you plan to use it in 3 days, but if you're like me you need your "avo" fix now, choose the one that gives way to medium pressure.

If you feel strange molesting the neighborhood produce another way to select avocados is the stem method, just flick off the nub of the stem at the top, if it's hard to pull off it's not ripe, if you flick it off and the "navel" underneath is brown or black it's too old, and over ripe, it should be easily removed and a green or light color underneath.

Holy guacamole!

Announcement

Patrick made a big announcement recently about The Peak Condition Community (dot blogspot dot com) and I too have something I'd like to put out into the world.

I'm in love with avocado.

I know its a mixed relationship (it's green and I'm human) but I don't care. It was meant to be. I could eat avocado every day for the rest of my life.

There I said it, I'm glad I got it off my chest.

P.s. we're registered at Bed Bath and Beyond

Just say NO!

So , Superbowl has come and gone, I went to a party and hung out by the crudite platter and fresh fruit bowl (because I like eating more then football.) Most of the dishes were meat based the dinner table so it wasn't too tempting, the dessert table was giving me a come hither look while whispering my name into the wind. I mingled around the party, talking to many people who don't know me very well. I started getting strange responses from those I told about PCP.

"You don't need to diet your already so skinny."
"That sounds too extreme."
"You should just have a little, you've got to let loose."
"Just have a brownie, and here, also have vodka and diet, it's diet."
"You only live once just relax and enjoy it."

I decided to tell people about the diet so that I would feel embarrassed if they saw me cheating, but my plan could not have backfired more because then I had about 5 people who every time they saw me were trying to convince me to eat a brownie or drink a margarita(or light beer, c'mon its light). Any attempt to defend the process or my participation was met with blank stares followed by "What about a just a little cheese ball thats ok, right?" ::blerg::

Who are these people, does Patrick plant spies? (that seems a bit elaborate)
What is the goal of these confectionery enablers?

I'll just keep taking cues from Nancy Reagan.