(For those not following along, or visiting for the first time, please note that this is a maintenance week. The theory is to let the body reset hormonal levels before putting it back into a deficit. The calorie levels are specifically not weight loss ones.)

So, I’m home and miserable. I even broke down and opened the nasal spray that I’ve had for more than a year (didn’t use it last time). I looked at the bottom of the package and it’s good until 2010, so what the hell. I’m also popping zinc lozenges and hoping for the best. It’s still pretty much just blocked sinuses with a really annoying post-nasal drip. I’ve decided it’s not really in my chest, just the post-nasal drip that’s irritating my throat every now and then. (ie. no wheezing or such).

Tomorrow is an early day so I’m off to bed soon. The only good thing about tomorrow is that it’s over at 2pm, although I have a short meeting for a group project. Then a stop and Costco and I can relax (and do homework) until Thursday morning.

Oh, and that smoked turkey in today’s lunch was the turkey I smoked on the weekend. It was lovely. We’ve still got some purchased ham and turkey to use up, but then it’s on to homemade lunch stuff.

Food for the day:

Total: 3120 (30% fat, 37% carbs, 28% protein)

Breakfast: protein shake with oatmeal and frozen berries, almonds (524)
AM Snack: none (0) - combined with afternoon snack and one in the car
Lunch: whole wheat tortillas, mustard, smoked turkey, cheese, zucchini snack cake, nectarine (678)
Snacks: almonds, soy nuts, peach, zucchini snack cake, hummus, carrots, maynard sours (808)
Dinner: chili with cheese, multi-grain tostidos, salad w/dressing (733)
Late Snack: protein shake, nectarine, hot toddy (377)

(For those not following along, or visiting for the first time, please note that this is a maintenance week. The theory is to let the body reset hormonal levels before putting it back into a deficit. The calorie levels are specifically not weight loss ones.)

So, I did manage to get all of the turkey dealt with today. I ended up with enough smoked turkey for 15 lunches (for two), dinner tonight with two big portions, and some quite reduced stock with another 20oz of chopped turkey in it. I also got my laundry done and my homework as well. And I’m all prepared for the morning.

And for the last hour I’ve been playing an extended game of throw with one of the cats. Most people would call it fetch, but since he brings the twist tie (a big black one) and I throw it, I think it’s more a game of throw. Since he’ll decide when it’s over as well.

So I did go to maintenance levels today. It was harder (and easier) than I thought. I added some food to my late lunch, and then beefed up my afternoon snack. Funny, but even with all that extra food I was tempted to nibble on almonds when packing my lunch. So for the next 6 days (Mon-Sat) I will do no organized exercise and eat somewhere over 3000 cals each day, with no specific macro level. I think I was going to try for 3500, but unless I end up going out (which is unlikely) it’s probably going to be more between 3000 and 3250.

Food for the day:

Total: 3014 (33% fat, 31% carbs, 28% protein)

Breakfast: two fried eggs, honey oatmeal bread, peach (362)
AM Snack: zucchini snack cake (184)
Lunch: egg/egg white omelet with mushrooms, onion, salsa and cheese, zucchini snack cake, nectarine (655)
PM Snack: hummus, carrots, cheese spread, 12-grain crackers, jack daniels & lemonade (564)
Dinner: roast turkey, pecan stuffing (w/onions, celery, mushrooms), salad w/dressing (815)
Late Snack: protein shake, nectarine, peach, hot toddy (434)

The Sunday to Sunday loss this week is 2.4lbs. I can finally think that I’m much closer to 250 than 300. Okay, I’ve been that way for a couple of weeks, but 268 for whatever reason just feels much closer. The 9-week loss is 18.6lbs (2.07/week) which is usually the ‘number’ I look at to see how things are going overall. I’ve pretty much decided that the daily weights are going to be out of whack while I’m in school. The other little compulsive number I look at is how many days I’ve been ‘on plan’ primarily with food. I still consider the maintenance week ‘on plan’ since I accomplished what I wanted to. So, since I started keeping track this is day 255 on plan with food.

Busy isn’t the issue this morning.  I’ve had to admit finally that I’m not well.  The head cold/throat tickle has migrated into my chest.  This is probably why I couldn’t motivate myself to multi-task yesterday.  So today I have to do the ‘must dos’ and make sure I can fight it off.  I’m probably a little gun shy as this is (three years ago) what started the decline that ended with me in the hospital.  Quick recap on that - chest cold in April eventually ended with a large amount of fluid in the pleural space around one lung by June.  Yes, it was probably 5 weeks later.  I was doing 5 days a weeks of high HR cardio, working a job I was on my feet all day, and eating under 1500 cals.  Oh yes, and I ignored the early symptoms and the fact that each day was becoming harder to get through.

So this time I’m listening to my body and will give the exercise a rest until I’m feeling well.  I’m wavering between going to rest/maintenance now (was planning it in two weeks) or just going to rest day calories.  For today I’ve adjusted to rest day calories and will do that for a few days.  If I’m on the road to recovery at that point I won’t worry about it.  If I’m not feeling any better in a few days then I’ll bump it up to rest/maintenance levels.

Okay, I’m thinking this should just be called turkey day!

This morning I was up at 5am (for no specific reason) and 30 minutes later when I was still awake I thought I’d start thawing the turkey.  I kind of vegged on the couch (with a timer in case I dozed off, which I didn’t) and dutifully changed the water every 30 minutes until breakfast.  I did a few things outside this morning, but had to go to the optometrists around 11am.  So 90 minute later (not quite, but close) I’m home and chopping the turkey into pieces.  Well, let’s just say that it’s a good thing I don’t have to butcher my own meat!

With starting early I realised that I should have left the turkey in the fridge until later in the day.  That way I could have brined it overnight and smoked it in the morning.  Silly me thought that smoking pieces wouldn’t be too bad.  Well, the wings and the one leg are done, but the two breasts still have about 10C to go (18F)… and the propane tank ran out (just switched it over).

So I’ve got the timer set for another 25 minutes and hope that it’s ready.  All I can say is that it better be good.  I tried to nap this afternoon but just couldn’t.  So what this means from a school point of view is that I have homework to do tomorrow.  Sigh… I need better study habits.  Next weekend, schoolwork first, house chores second.  So all I have to do tomorrow is pick the soup meat off the bones and freeze it, slice and freeze the smoked turkey, homework, lifting, laundry….. yikes.  Maybe I’ll throw a load of laundry in now while I’m waiting.

And yes, I did consider coming down and doing my homework now, but I’ve got a touch of a headache and didn’t think math was the best idea right now. 

Food for the day:

Total: 2008 (20% fat, 45% carbs, 32% protein)

Breakfast: protein pancakes, jam, nectarine (344)
AM Snack: zucchini snack cake (92)
Lunch: whole wheat tortillas, bbq pork, cheese, peach (493)
PM Snack: hummus, carrots (178)
Dinner: turkey sausage sauce with whole wheat pasta and parmesan cheese, salad w/dressing (629)
Late Snack: protein shake, nectarine (272)

Definitely TGIF today. I don’t know if it’s allergies, or if I’ve caught the silly cold that a couple of the other students have, but I’m congested and have a ticklish throat. There’s not much on the plan for tomorrow so I’ll probably work in the yard for a good part of the day. I have to pop out for an eye exam, which I would have canceled except it took a couple of weeks to get (at a time that was convenient). It’s just that the forecast is for a beautiful day so I’d like to spend time outside. Even if it is doing homework.

Oh yes, and I have a turkey to thaw, brine, then roast. It’s an experiment to get us away from eating the lunch meat style turkey that I’m getting right sick of. In a couple of weeks they’ll likely be even cheaper as Canadian Thanksgiving rolls around, however, I thought I’d try one now. So some of it will be brined and roasted and I’ll probably keep one or both of the legs for Sunday dinner.

Food for the day:

Total: 1993 (27% fat, 39% carbs, 32% protein)

Breakfast: egg white omelet with cheese and salsa, honey oatmeal bread, nectarine (292)
AM Snack: none (0)
Lunch: whole wheat tortillas, mustard, smoked ham, nectarine, zucchini bread (442)
PM Snack: hummus, carrots, chocolate zucchini cake (256)
Dinner: Spicy meatloaf with roasted onions and potatoes, snow peas, butter, salad w/dressing (615)
Late Snack: protein shake, peach, nectarine, zucchini bread (387)

So school was fun, well at least interesting. I decided to go do my walking at a local park today. It was a good idea, but not a fantastic execution. I’d read the information about where it was and such, however, it didn’t mention that the washrooms were LOCKED! I suspect it’s something that happens after labour day weekend, but it was really annoying. So I changed tops and shoes in the car, and just went that way. It did stop me from doing any jogging though because I didn’t want to spend my last class in sweaty pants. I’ll probably just go to the fitness center next week.

From the HR monitor:
45 mins, 325 cals, Max: 152 (85%), Min: 137 (77%)

Food for the day:

Total: 2309 (32% fat, 28% carbs, 38% protein)

Pre-WO: protein shake, peach (217)
Breakfast: egg/egg white omelet with cheese and salsa, zucchini bread, jam (525)
Lunch: whole wheat tortillas, mustard, smoked ham, nectarine (363)
PM Snack: soy nuts, chocolate zucchini cake (423)
Dinner: baked stuffed tomatoes (beef, onion, cheese), chicken and turkey sausage, salad w/dressing (550)
Late Snack: protein shake, nectarine (231)

I started off with 3 mins cardio (walking/jogging on the spot), the prescribed warm-ups, and then did:

Power Training - Strength Training (weeks 1-3)
Workout A2 (5 of 10)

1: Clean Pull - 80t/5, 80t/5, 80t/5, 85t/5
2: Clean-grip Deadlift - 100t/6, 100t/6, 100t/6, 105t/6
3: Single-leg Romanian Deadlift - 55t/6, 55t/6, 55t/6, 55t/6
4: Push-ups - 6, 6, 6, 6
5: Bent-over Dumbbell Alternating Row - 32e/6, 32e/6, 32e/6, 35e/6
6: Shoulder Press - 65t/6, 65t/6, 65t/6, 70t/5-3/4 
7: Pullovers, alternating - 25e/6, 25e/6, 25e/6, 25e/6
8: Seated Russian Twist - 25t/10, 25t/10, 25t/10, 25t/10
9: Four-point Plank - 30sec, 30sec, 35sec, 45sec

Total time: 70 mins
HR monitor: 350 cals, Max: 163(92%), Avg: 113 (63%)

Still struggling a lot with the single-leg romanian deadlift. I feel very off-balance when doing it, so I’m still not raising the weight. Oh, and that 5-3/4 on the last shoulder press means that I got the bar over my head, but felt the form was completely shot on that very last lift. As much as I’m not enjoying the Tuesday afternoon lifting, I really hate this early morning stuff. I know, not early for some, but it is for me. I was aiming for 7:15, but was a little after 7:20 to start. Although it’s nice because I’ve had a shower, breakfast, made my lunch and still have 40 mins to get dressed and out the door.

I had a pretty good day off today. I think I’m getting a little more organized as well. I did my walking in the morning, 1h15m so I can have Saturday free to do yard work. I’m actually planning to go to a local walking trail tomorrow to do my 45mins of walking (assuming the weather holds). I can do the indoor gym when the weather gets worse.

I did my math homework in the afternoon and had a lovely swim. My workout gear is packed up, my water bottles in the freezer (I fill them partway and freeze them the night before), my morning snack sitting beside my lunch bag. Last week I seemed to be rushing around to do all those things. Tomorrow morning I’ll get up early and do my lifting before I head off to school.

From the HR monitor:

Food for the day:

Total: 2153 (30% fat, 34% carbs, 31% protein)

Breakfast: two fried eggs, honey oatmeal bread, jam, nectarine (377)
AM Snack: chocolate zucchini cake (156)
Lunch: beef mushroom barley soup, 12-grain crackers, peach (402)
PM Snack: hummus, carrots, pisco sour (269)
Dinner: homemade hamburgers(2), condiments, edamame, salad w/dressing (692)
Late Snack: protein shake, peach (257)

I don’t plan to watch it, but last night was the premiere of The Biggest Loser. I’m thinking that these people are single-handedly making pretty much everyone trying to lose weight feel like a failure. I mean, if they don’t step on that scale and lose 10+ pounds a week, just watch the tears flow. It’s a fiasco one week when someone loses only a pound.

Anyway, that’s not why I got on the kick about it today. I was flipping the time shift channels last night and caught a few minutes of it. It must have been during the BodyBugg plug part of the show. They were reminding people to download their information and enter their food. So the guy at the computer has burned about 3500 calories, and his food entries total 250 or something close. Jillian leans over his shoulder and points out that he only needs to burn a few hundred more calories to lose that first pound.

Umm, excuse me. He’s eaten 250 calories for the day and you’re not going to point out that this could be dangerous? No, lets go out and exercise more. There was little to no chance I was going to watch it this season anyway, however, that’s the moment I changed the channel.

I heard from someone else that’s decided to turn it off this season that the prize is now called the Jello $250,000 prize. I know some people find the show inspirational but I’m beginning to find it repulsive.