79. Flying By

Man, I cannot believe it's day 79 already. We've been doing this for so long I can't really remember what life was like before we started, but at the same time I feel like I'm just getting started. I'm not ready to let go yet, not ready to go back to regular life. I know I've got 10 days to go, but I'm really getting sad to be done. I know that a lot of it can stay the same, I can keep exercising the same way and keep eating the same stuff, but I'm going to miss everybody and their blogs and whatnot.

Ok. enough emotional nonsense. Does anyone else feel like the new diet is so much food? I know I'll get used to it but boy do I feel like I'm eating way too much. Especially dinner, but that's probably because I'm still mourning the loss of the apple dinner a little bit.

And a question for Patrick -- why are chest dips the second best exercise we can do for wellness? Is it because they're really super hard and make all your muscles work?

I can't decide if I dislike them because I can't do them/they hurt my wrists and shoulders or if I can't do them because I dislike them and therefore don't work as hard on them as I do on things that I like, like pull-ups.
Have I told you how much I like pull-ups? I still can't do a full one by myself but think the Jordan-assisted ones are the best things ever. I know that I'm not doing all the work, but they make me feel so strong! And to think the very first day of inclines pull-ups I couldn't move myself at all.

Oh and I indulged. The other night after firefighting class I had no interest in cooking, so we went to our local super good Vietnamese restaurant. I got pho, which is my favorite, but is also supposed to generally cure what ails you, so I figured it might be good for my stomach. It probably wasn't as many calories as it was supposed to and wasn't actually that unhealthy. The broth didn't seem that oily and the beef in the soup is lean, so aside from being a little salty, it was pretty decent pcp wise, I think. I did doctor it up with a ton of bean spouts and lime and some chilis so I got a bunch of veggies in there too. It tasted good. Not really really good. But not gross. So I'm happy that I'll still be able to eat some of the things that I loved before without finding them weird tasting. Mostly it was just nice to be able to stop and sit and be waited on and know that there wasn't a mound of dishes waiting for me afterwards. I did get a glass of iced sweet chyrsanthemum tea and it was so sweet I could only a sip or two before I was done.

12. So much food

Does anyone else feel like they're eating massive amounts of food? Now that the initial hunger has worn off, I'm slightly overwhelmed by the food and the frequency of the eating. I feel like I'm just shoveling the food down the hatch and by the time I've finished feeling full from breakfast it's time for fruit and then lunch and so on.

I actually cheated a bit this weekend. I didn't eat the evening fruit on Saturday and skipped dinner and evening fruit yesterday. Saturday was honestly an accident, I totally forgot about it and didn't remember til I saw my apple on the counter Sunday morning. Last night, it was just exhuastion and poor planning. I got done work at 530 stopped by the store, did my workout, and then got to cooking dinner. By the time everything was done it was almost 10 and I wasn't really hungry and 8 hours of sleep seemed more appealing than eating.

I surprisingly wasn't starving when I woke up this morning but I was supper groggy. I packed all my food for the day and then instead of working out I laid on the couch with the cats. I meant to get up but then all of a sudden it was almost time to leave for work and I needed to shower. This is a pretty good illustration of my morning working out issues; I need a good hour or so to wake up enough to do anything other than go through the motions of the workout, but I can't really make an extra hour in my morning schedule without forgoing my 8 hours of sleep. But on Mondays and Wednesdays when I have class til 9, if I workout after I'm so wound up that I can't sleep well. Oh well, I'll work it out. The results are worth it. I don't drink coffee and don't really want to start, but maybe that's the key to revving myself up in the mornings.

Speaking of results. I still need to take week 2 pictures, and I don't have a full length mirror so I'm not sure whether there are any visible changes going on, but my body definitely feels different. My skin feels sortof tighter, especially on my calves. Also, I'm more aware of my muscles when I'm moving, or something like that. Also, I can do push-ups now! That is awesome. Hopefully by next week I'll have an handle on the triceps dips.