This week off has been almost too relaxing. I certainly didn’t do much of anything, but maybe that was a good thing. The bread turned out fairly well. Okay, the white/whole wheat blended sourdough turned out beautifully. I’m glad I decided to feed the starter (so I can make more). The one with the oats, cracked wheat, soy flour and flax seed… well, not so much. However, as toast, for dipping in soup, it will do. I noticed when I weighed the different loaves that there was about 2oz difference between them. So, I probably put too many dry ingredients into the second batch. I’m masochistic enough that I’ll probably try again. I’ll eat the second batch and my mother will eat most of the first.

The baking bread thing is good, provided you’re one of those people who can make it without eating it while it’s warm. Even I tend to wait until it’s cooled down before cutting even a piece off. I’m still a little concerned that I’ll start slicing hunks off and putting a butter on it… ummm… good thing it’s all outside in the freezer!

So, again, I did very little today. I played on the computer, baked bread, a little school work, etc. I took a few hours and combined the two recipe databases I have (wasn’t easy). I have a boatload of my own recipes indexed, as well as a huge number in MasterCook (a recipe database). I really don’t like it’s search features (seems slow), but I wanted to be able to do a title search fast that would cover all of the recipes I had access too.

Can we say ‘overkill’. The sad thing is that I can still look at a potential list of recipes and find nothing that appeals to me. Well, okay, I did find a chicken breast recipe that I will probably take a shot at on Monday.

Food for the day:

Total: 2003 (24% fat, 45% carbs, 31% protein)

Breakfast: breakfast bake, honey oat bread, jam, orange (387)
AM Snack: none (0)
Lunch: multi-grain tortilla, mustard, eye of round, lettuce, celery, apple (445)
PM Snack: protein shake, multi-grain sourdough, jam (220)
Dinner: spicy meatloaf with roasted potatoes & onions, cauliflower/broccoli/carrots, butter, salad w/dressing (676)
Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad (275)

Okay, sourdough starter was not a good idea. Well, I’ll know tomorrow when I see what kind of yield I’m going to get out of them… and if they rise. One I mixed up with half and half white/whole wheat flour. The other one is a blend of white/whole wheat/soy flours with some flax seed, quick oats, and cracked wheat blended in. The one I’ve been buying has more (cracked rye, barley grits, sunflower seeds, etc.) but I think I’ve messed with this enough. I also think the purchased one has all those things ground up finer than the stuff I used. I’m hoping that the first batch is okay, and the second batch I’m willing to feed to the squirrels.

So, here it is midnight and all my chores are done. Okay, I did watch some television, but still! Tomorrow morning I’ll continue on with the sourdough baking and maybe even call one of the guys from school. He emailed me about Stats, although at this point I’m not sure what help he needs. ie. our test was before the break, the homework had to be done electronically by last Sunday… but we’ll see what he wants.

Food for the day:

Total: 2002 (21% fat, 46% carbs, 33% protein)

Breakfast: breakfast bake, honey oat bread, jam, orange (390)
AM Snack: zucchini spice cake (114)
Lunch: minestrone soup, honey oat bread, apple (386)
PM Snack: protein shake (179)
Dinner: whole wheat pasta baked with turkey sausage sauce & cheese, salad w/dressing (658)
Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad (275)

We actually have reasonably warmish weather today.  It was almost 50F this morning when I was out, although it’s only about 35F now.  Of course, it was raining.  I suppose the only bright side is that it wasn’t snow.  It’s to be sunny and 6F in the morning though.  (Yikes)

There are a few snowdrops starting to show colour, and a few early crocus poking their leaves through the ground.  Sadly with the temperature dropping once again they’ll just have to wait to continue blooming and growing.

After talking about not wanting to hurt myself yesterday - I have a horribly aching back today.  The stupid thing is that it seemed fine until I was in the car.  Must have been something about the angle that just aggravated it.  So I’m now using the laptop, sitting on the couch, with the heating pad.  Nice.

The other part that is sore, although just achy, is from my hips almost to my knees.  Not sore, just aching.  And not the back of my legs, but the front.  Ack, just falling apart I suppose.  I don’t think it’s anything serious - it’s likely just DOMS of some sort.  I’m going to use this as a good reason to do my Statistics homework.

I tried to avoid doing it by baking bread, but the rise time is 8-10 hours.  Yes, that was hours.  I put together a sourdough starter 5 days ago, but hadn’t read the rest of the recipe.  I’m supposed to mix the starter with more flour, water, oil, sugar, etc. and let it rest/rise for 8-10 hours.  Then punch it down, form it, and do a second rise for 2-3 hours.  Sheesh, I can see why people don’t make it much.  I was going to make a small loaf today and then try more tomorrow.  What I might do now is do one regular (ie. close to the original recipe) and one mixed (combo of whole wheat, white, soy, flax, cracked wheat) both tonight and finish them off tomorrow.  The starter itself is a mix of white and whole wheat flours.  It’s going to be interesting figuring out a calorie count for them….

So I finally buckled down and did some of my homework today (the math). I’ll start (and finish) the statistics tomorrow, so that really only leaves me with Electricity for Sat/Sun. I haven’t quite decided, but I think since Sunday is the first of March I might switch over to NROL4W just for the hell of it. I did always mean to go back and do another round of it, and maybe now is as good a time as any. I’m really trying to fight the ‘I’ll start everything on the first’ mentality, and so far this week it’s been pretty good. Not easy, but pretty good.

I don’t know why we all have that attitude of wanting a last hurrah before buckling down. It’s not like we aren’t simply going to have to take it off again, right?

Food for the day:

Total: 2302 (22% fat, 41% carbs, 37% protein)

Breakfast: breakfast bake, honey oat bread, jam, orange (495)
AM Snack: none (0)
Lunch: lentil soup with chicken, honey oat bread, apple (455)
PWO Snack: protein shake, sour cherries (281)
PM Snack: none (0)
Dinner: chicken fajitas (chicken, onions, peppers, marinade, cheese), multigrain tortillas, salad w/dressing (780)
Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad (291)

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

Power Training - Strength Training (weeks 10-12)
Workout A3 (5 of 10)

1: Clean High Pull - 65t/3, 65t/3, 65t/3, 65t/3
2: Clean-Grip Deadlift - 115t/5, 165t/3, 185t/2, 205t/1, 210t/1, 215t/1
3: Single-leg Supine Hip Extension - 5, 3, 2, 1
4: Push-ups (incline) - 5, 3, 2, 1
5: Two-point Dumbbell Row with Twist - 30e/5, 30e/3, 30e/2, 30e/1
6: Shoulder Press - 65t/5, 65t/3, 65t/2, 65t/1
7: Chin-ups (band assisted, attempts) - 5, 3, 2, 1
8: Cable Woodchop - 8, 8, 8, 8
9: Four-point Plank - 45sec, 45sec, 45sec, 45sec

Total time: 70 mins
HR monitor: 369 cals, Max: 146 (82%), Avg: 113 (64%)

Not a bad workout, but I recognized something about myself today. Although I prefer the heavy lifts, I’m not always that smart about it. I had that revelation as I was lifting the 215 lbs this afternoon. 

I get to the 5,4,2,1 reps and feel that I need to constantly push up the weights. In fact, I feel that I should push them all up. I still very much have to work on weight loss before I consider working more on heavy lifts. Otherwise I’m going to end up hurting myself and slowing down the weight loss. I’m going to be more cautious of the last 5 lifts of the Strength Training, and then see what I’m up to next. Originally I was going to do NROL4W again, and I think that might actually be a good idea.

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

Power Training - Strength Training (weeks 10-12)
Workout B2 (4 of 10)

1: One-arm Dumbbell Snatch - 30e/5, 30e/3, 30e/2, 30e/1
2: Forward Lunge - 65t/5, 65t/3, 65t/2, 65t/1
3: Romanian Deadlift - 115t/5, 165t/3, 185t/2, 210t/1 (subbed regular deadlifts)
4: Side to Side Push-up - 5, 3, 2, 1 (subbed incline push-ups)
5: Bent-over Row - 115t/5, 115t/3, 115t/2, 115t/1
6: Dumbbell Alternating Press - 25e/5, 25e/3, 25e/2, 25e/1
7: Negative Chin-ups - 5, 3, 2, 1
8: Cable Wood Chop - 5, 3, 2, 1
9: Four-point Plank - 45sec, 45sec, 45sec, 45sec

Total time: 70 mins
HR monitor: 364 cals, Max: 148 (84%), Avg: 112 (63%)

I probably shouldn’t have subbed out the deadlifts, but I kind of wanted to know if I could have gone a little higher the other day. So I did the last one with 210-lbs, and will see if I can go 215 on Thursday. Then I’ll be rational, and wait until the next day for deadlifts before doing more.

Not a bad workout, but I’m still not keeping the energy with the workouts like I have in the past. I’m hoping a couple more workouts and I’ll be back enough in the groove that it will be better. My knee is bugging me a bit so tomorrow I won’t bother with the treadmill. I’ve got enough chores to keep me busy.

- - -

Well, I’m going to do some general surfing with the laptop for a while before I go to bed, but I’ll log my meals here before I go. I did a little of this, a little of that again today. Nothing particularly interesting, but a nice day. The lifting went well though, so that’s a good thing. I think I need to take some time tomorrow and perhaps work on my homework, and an assignment that’s due the week we go back. Then on Saturday or Sunday I’ll prepare for the electricity labs on Monday.

Food for the day:

Total: 2301 (25% fat, 40% carbs, 35% protein)

Breakfast: 2 fried eggs, honey oat bread, orange (463)
Lunch: multigrain tortilla, sirloin steak, mustard, lettuce, celery, apple (438)
PWO: protein shake with sour cherries (281)
PM Snack: hummus, flatbread (164)
Dinner: beef/turkey burgers(2), sandwich thin, condiments, salad w/dressing (725)
Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad (230)

I’m trying to figure out exactly what I did today. I wasn’t going to sleep in a lot during this week, but then decided why shouldn’t I? On the plus side, I did drag myself onto the treadmill for 30 minutes this morning. The rest of the day I worked on a number of things including playing around with Solidworks (the 3D drawing program), until I got frustrated with example #7. I got to the point where I had to admit that I couldn’t figure it out on my own - which annoys me. This is a set of sample drawings that the teacher plans to ‘teach’ us on our first day back. He’s just not much of a teacher so I thought I’d play around on my own. I’m going to leave it for a day or so, and take another crack at it though. Just because I hate admitting it got the better of me.

I did make a point to not simply sit at the computer all day. So I would get up, run up the stairs, come back, etc. So a somewhat more active, yet inactive, day.

Food for the day:

Total: 1992 (24% fat, 43% carbs, 33% protein)

Breakfast: breakfast bake, 1/2 sandwich thin, orange (367)
AM Snack: none (0)
Lunch: multi-grain tortilla, mustard, sirloin steak, lettuce, celery, apple (457)
PM Snack: protein shake (179)
Dinner: chili, multi-grain tostidos, salad w/dressing (759)
Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad (230)

I’ll probably catch up on some blogs later from the laptop, but at the moment I’m going to log my food for the day. I know that once I’m on the couch with the fire going that I won’t want to come back to the desk. There’s always cold air coming out of the crawlspace (behind me when I’m at the desk), which makes it tougher to come back to the computer.

Food for the day:

Total: 2292 (24% fat, 37% carbs, 39% protein)

Breakfast: 2 fried eggs, honey oat bread, orange (465)
Lunch: beef barley mushroom soup, honey oat bread, apple (403)
PWO: protein shake with sour cherries (281)
PM Snack: empanadas (1.5), pisco sour (174)
Dinner: sirloin steak, corn, butter, salad w/dressing (663)
Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad (307)

So, the empanadas are something that my mother made today. Long story, but she bought a thing of cream cheese a while back to make them, and kept forgetting. I found the cream cheese in the fridge last week so she decided to make them. We split three of them with a drink before our dinner this afternoon. They’re very small, with a somewhat scary calorie count. ie. 55 calories, 4g fat - yep, macros are 65% fat, 23% carbs, 12% protein) They have a beef/tomato/olive/raisin filling and a pastry that has cream cheese, butter, and flour. They are quite tasty so it’s a good thing that the rest of them are now in the freezer - to be served to company.

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

Power Training - Strength Training (weeks 10-12)
Workout A2 (3 of 10)

1: Clean High Pull - 65t/3, 65t/3, 65t/3, 65t/3
2: Clean-Grip Deadlift - 115t/5, 165t/3, 185t/2, 205t/1
3: Single-leg Supine Hip Extension - 5, 3, 2, 1
4: Push-ups (incline) - 5, 3, 2, 1
5: Two-point Dumbbell Row with Twist - 30e/5, 30e/3, 30e/2, 30e/1
6: Shoulder Press - 65t/5, 65t/3, 65t/2, 65t/1
7: Chin-ups (band assisted, attempts) - 5, 3, 2, 1
8: Cable Woodchop - 8, 8, 8, 8
9: Four-point Plank - 45sec, 45sec, 45sec, 45sec

Total time: 70 mins
HR monitor: 305 cals, Max: 132 (75%), Avg: 101 (57%)

So I decided to play around with the max deadlifts today. I probably could have done a little more than 205 (not much though), but with lots more to do I decided that was enough. The one thing that I noticed today was that I never really pushed up the heart rate today. I’m not sure why, but it’s just an observation.

This morning’s weigh-in was 241.4, which is 0.4 pounds down from last week. The 9-week loss is 11.2lbs (1.24/week) which is usually the ‘number’ I look at to see how things are going overall. The other little compulsive number I look at is how many days I’ve been ‘on plan’ primarily with food. I still consider a maintenance week ‘on plan’ since I accomplished what I wanted to. So this is day 2 on plan with food.

I’m not entirely unhappy with the week’s progress. I had pretty much decided to go off plan before dinner on Friday, even though I wouldn’t likely have admitted it. The damage overall was minimal, but it’s time to buckle down for a while. I’d really like to see the 9-week chart showing entirely clear, but that’s not going to happen for at least 9 weeks. Sigh….

Next week’s plan is:

Keep the calories around 2000, and since I’m feeling better start working the exercise back in. I still don’t feel like I have a huge amount of energy, which bothers me. It was a struggle to get 30 mins in on the treadmill yesterday, and I’m feeling very unmotivated in general. However, I’ll get three days of lifting in this week (starting today) and see how that goes. I’ve already planned a 2300 calorie day to support it. I’ll aim for early afternoon, which traditionally was my easiest time to lift.