This morning’s weigh-in was 234.6, 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 37 on plan with food.

So this week was disappointing, but still kind of on plan. I’m fighting off the spring flu (which everyone around me seems to have), and so on Wednesday night I decided to add some extra food to the daily intake. I decided not to do it in the usual ‘maintenance week - eat what I want’. I added more protein in the form of a shake, a little extra meat at lunch, and a hot toddy or two at night to stop the coughing (which is minor and only seems to bother me at night). So, while all the guys at school are basically dead, I’m not feeling that bad. I’ll keep up the extra food until Tuesday (my last test) and then I think Thursday it’s back to my lifting routine.

The interesting point was that avoiding the typically lower percentage of protein that I end up with on maintenance weeks, my weight didn’t really shift much. I’m about a pound heavier than my lightest during the week and that still leaves me lighter than last Sunday. So, overall I’m pretty happy about that. I don’t think the chart adds much this week, but here it is:

This morning’s weigh-in was 235.0, which is 1.8 pounds down from last week. The 9-week loss is 13.0lbs (1.44/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 30 on plan with food.

The ‘experiment’ worked well this week. Basically I stuck to what I came up with:

Breakfast: my egg bake, 1/2 sandwich thin, orange
Lunch: tortilla, meat, lettuce, apple
Snacks: 1 pc zucchini cake, soy nuts and/or hummus and flatbread
(single or separate depending on schedule)
Dinner: various
Evening: protein shake, 6-oz fruit salad

I’m going to track what I’ve had, but not particularly plan. The only things that will change slightly are the orange and apple weights, possibly the meat with lunch. Looking at my dinners over the last couple of weeks they’ll range from ~500 to ~800 calories, depending on what I choose. It’s just an attempt to simplify things for the next few weeks. So, for the week I averaged:

1887 cals (53g fat, 195g carbs, 166g protein) - about 35% protein

My lowest day was Monday at 1746 and the highest day was Tuesday at 1996 (hamburger day - no surprise there). The before adding dinner range is either ~1250 or ~1280 (depends on the snack and the weight of the apple/orange I have that day). It’s made the week fairly easy to get through, and kept me on track.

Next week’s plan is:

Same thing, with probably no lifting as well. Although once I get past Monday’s test I might be able to justify taking the time off.

I came here to make a very quick post about probably not being online much this coming week. I’ve been working on homework during the day pretty much all weekend, and I’m not done. To be fair, I didn’t get out of bed until after 10 this morning, but still. In the next two weeks I have 4 tests, a number of assignments, as well as quizzes, labs, etc.

I thought I’d been keeping on top of things, but it seems like I haven’t. For at least two of those tests I need to put in some reasonable study time as well.

Yep, it’s official, I’m swamped. So, prioritizing at the moment - school first, eating in check, exercise (dropped), online (banned).

I’ll pop in later in the week if I feel I’m more in control. Take care all - as I know I’ll definitely miss posting!

I noticed that I’m slipping with the daily posts. I’m not off plan or anything, just seem to not get my act together each night to post. Since I know that’s a danger sign, I’m going to make more of an effort this coming week to get stuff posted.

This morning’s weigh-in was 236.8, which is 1.8 pounds down from last week. The 9-week loss is 13.0lbs (1.44/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 23 on plan with food.

I finally feel like I’m pretty much in control of myself. However, I see the warning signs creeping in, so I’m keeping an eye on them. Even though yesterday came in on plan, I didn’t actually do the meal plan until after I’d eaten breakfast. I know it’s not a big deal, but sometimes it’s the little things that do you in. I did the same this morning - made and ate breakfast and then did the meal plan. This coming week I’ll make sure that I’m back to doing them the night before.

Next week’s plan is:

Continue on with The New Rules of Lifting for Women, 3 days a week. Cardio if I feel like it. For March at least that I’ll do 1900 on non-workout days and 2200 on lifting days and see how that goes.

Someone on another board asked me about posting the video that I’m doing for my Creative Thinking. I will likely post it when it’s done. However, in the meantime, here was the first one. The assignment was 10 frames audio and video, of:

- a pet
- the school
- a news item

Sigh…. it shows in the preview, but doesn’t embed. I’ll just link to it:

Creative Thinking <<<— click here!

Pretty much yesterday was school. I actually slept in and missed my 8am class. I wouldn’t normally care that much, but it’s one that I really don’t like to miss. So, in the afternoon I made the offer to help one of the guys with Solidworks. I know, wasn’t I complaining about helping people too much. However, on Wednesdays everyone in the school gets 12-1pm off, so it’s almost impossible to find somewhere to sit in the cafeteria. So I had planned to go into the CAD lab anyways (and copy the sheets from the class I’d missed).

Then last night I went back to the electricity homework. That pretty much took the rest of the evening.

Food for yesterday:

Total: 1909 (20% fat, 49% carbs, 31% protein)

Breakfast: breakfast bake, honey oatmeal bread, jam, orange (405)
AM Snack: none (0)
Lunch: multi-grain tortilla, eye of round, lettuce, celery, mustard, apple (440)
PM Snack: hummus, carrots (119)
Dinner: chili with whole wheat pasta (698)
Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad (248)

- - - -

This morning’s workout (before school). I did a 15-min walk on the treadmill, followed by:

A: Deadlift - 85/12, 90/12
B1: Barbell Shoulder Press - 65t/12, 65t/12
B2: Barbell Pullover - 45e/15, 45e/15
C1: Lunge - 30e/15, 32e/15
C2: Swiss-ball Crunch - 8, 8

I tried to talk myself out of this workout this morning. I have time that I could have done it either this afternoon today, or even tomorrow afternoon. In the end I decided that I really should get it out of the way.

From the HR monitor:

40 mins, 295 cals, Max HR: 168 (94%), Avg HR: 132 (74%)

I also spent a fair amount of time this afternoon walking around. I was working on my project for Creative Thinking. I had my choice of:

10 poems - no thanks
2 paintings - considered this, but decided not
a 20 frame video with the theme of ‘this is Hamilton’ (city where the college is)

So armed with my mother’s camera today I took pictures (95 of them). Some from the car even - yes, while it was moving. Then after class I went to a couple of parks, a local waterfall, the downtown beach, a recreational area on the lakefront, and a local castle (okay, a big mansion, but they call it a castle). The only complaint was that it was pretty cold, and everything is dead from the winter. However, it’s due April 1st, and I doubt it’s going to be any better in a couple of weeks.

I think I don’t have much homework this weekend, so I’ll probably try and edit it together. My plan is to break it into two parts. The first part will be the typical commuter’s vision of a city. You know, highways, traffic, parking lots. I’m planning to use ‘Working in a Coal Mine’ (the Devo version from Heavy Metal, just because I have it) for the first part, then transition into the scenes that the commuter never sees. I haven’t picked the tune for that part, still thinking about it. The whole thing will probably run about two minutes. But hey, it’s worth 15% of my grade, and presenting it will give me up to another 15%.

It was kind of sad really. Hamilton is a steel town, with two main companies (originally Dofasco and Stelco). They’ve both been sold off to other interests (Dofasco to Arcelor Mittal - a European based company, and Stelco to US Steel). I know it was probably, for both of them, the only way to keep going. However, this week US Steel announced that they are ‘temporarily’ shutting down the Hamilton works. This will be a huge loss for the people in the city, as it’s been a cornerstone employer for years. I went past the two installations today and even at Dofasco there are a lot of empty spots in the massive parking lots. I suppose it’s better than the deserted ones at the other plant.

- - - - -

Ack, I just looked at the clock and it’s at least 30 mins past when I planned on getting to bed. One more early morning tomorrow and then I can have two medium early mornings before it all starts again. 

Food for the day:

Total: 2193 (28% fat, 41% carbs, 31% protein)

Pre-WO: protein shake: 210
Breakfast: two fried eggs, honey oatmeal bread, orange (405)
AM Snack: none (0)
Lunch: multi-grain tortilla, eye of round, lettuce, celery, mustard, apple (440)
PM Snack: hummus, flatbread (149)
Dinner: chicken fajitas, with onions, peppers, salsa, cheese, salad w/dressing (850)
Late Snack: fruit salad (96)

Yeah, I know - lots of cals at dinner. That’s because I was hungry! We ate almost an hour later than usual. Instead of taking my fajita mixture on one tortilla, I took a second one. Usually we have the smaller tortillas, which would have been easier, but I threw caution to the wind. At the time I wasn’t thinking about macros as I knew the calories were okay (just dropped the shake from the evening snack).

I started with 15 mins on the treadmill, followed by:

A: Front Squats - 75t/15, 80t/15
B1: Push-up - 12, 12
B2: Bent-over Row - 80t/15, 85t/12
C1: Step-up - 20e/12, 22e/12
C2: Prone Jackknife - 10, 10

I almost ended up doing 15 reps for everything. I was swapping over the weights during the bent-over rows and figured it out. Good thing really, because it’s the step-ups that pretty much kill me.

From the HR monitor:

40 mins, 287 cals, Max HR: 164 (93%), Avg HR: 130 (73%)

- - - - -

Nothing to add for today. I started a small batch of beef jerky on the dehydrator, which I’m hoping will be done before I go to bed. Either way I’ll have to turn it off. I did some homework today, but just not enough. I played more with Solidworks than I should have (although technically that’s homework as well). Tomorrow I’ll have to spend more time on Electricity, and catch-up on math. My mother is off to a gourmet home-sale party (that I’m not going to go to) at the neighbours, so I could work on homework as well tomorrow night.

Food for the day:

Total: 2195 (25% fat, 39% carbs, 36% protein)

Breakfast: breakfast bake, 1/2 sandwich thin, orange (389)
AM Snack: none (0)
Lunch: beef mushroom barley soup, apple (346)
PM Snack: hummus, carrots (178)
Dinner: turkey/beef burgers, sandwich thin, hamburger minestrone soup, salad w/dressing (753)
Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad (262)

Well, I have nothing really to add today. Monday’s are usually quiet as we have classes from 9am until 5pm. The only good thing is that the electricity teacher finally admitted that the question we all got wrong was badly worded. I don’t have it with me, but it asked about changes in current if ‘the voltage increases and the resistance decreases by the same’, or some such wording. What the writer of the question meant (and it wasn’t him) was if they both increase by the same amount, or both decrease by the same percentage (ie. both 50% or both 100%, but in the same direction). We all read it as voltage up/resistance down, which meant the answer was undefined (ie. 2x/half would be 4x, 3x/third would be 6x, etc) so we all picked ‘not enough information’ as our answer.

So, here’s the thing. He admitted today that the textbook website randomly puts together tests based on his inputs (chapters, number of questions, etc.) and he thought that question was wrong anyway. Now, don’t you think if a large percentage of people answer that question the way he thought it should be answered… that he would mark them correct? No, he waits until a number of people complain. Sigh. Oh well, I now have a mark of 96% for my first electricity test. And the one I got wrong was completely totally a brain-dead mistake.

On that note, off to bed with me. From all the talk about dehydrators I’ve decided to put mine to more use. I looked up a basic recipe for beef jerky and will use a small amount of flank steak I have on hand to make some. If I decide that I like it, I’ll play around with it more.

Food for the day:

Total: 1892 (22% fat, 42% carbs, 36% protein)

Breakfast: breakfast bake, 1/2 sandwich thin, orange (399)
AM Snack: none (0)
Lunch: multi-grain tortilla, sirloin steak, lettuce, celery, salad dressing, apple (470)
PM Snack: chocolate zucchini cake, soy nuts (290) <– in theory morning snack as well
Dinner: apricot ginger chicken, bean/carrot blend, butter, salad w/dressing (459)
Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad (275)

Well, I got most of what I needed to get done completed. I didn’t finish the homework from Electricity, but I’ll have time to finish that up on Tuesday. I know that I simply played too much with Solidworks on Saturday - because I like it. Not that I needed to spend that much time with it.

So, other than my laundry, I’m done for the day. It should be out of the dryer soon, and that’s me to bed. Food was a little unbalanced today. We finished the last of the big steaks (so a larger portion) and since I bought mushrooms on Friday we added them to the dinner as well. However, it was a good dinner. Well worth being kind of ravenous in the hour before.

Food for the day:

Total: 2192 (24% fat, 36% carbs, 40% protein)

Breakfast: two fried eggs, honey oat bread, jam, orange (368)
AM Snack: none (0)
Lunch: multi-grain tortilla, grilled pork tenderloin, mustard, lettuce, celery, apple (478)
PWO Snack: protein shake, sour cherries (281)
PM Snack: none (0)
Dinner: sirloin steak, corn, mushrooms, butter, salad w/dressing (782)
Late Snack: protein shake, fruit salad (284)

I did a 15-min walk on the treadmill, followed by:

A: Deadlift - 80/15, 85/15
B1: Barbell Shoulder Press - 65t/15, 65t/15
B2: Barbell Pullover - 45e/15, 45e/15
C1: Lunge - 30e/15, 30e/15
C2: Swiss-ball Crunch - 8, 8

The barbell made a big difference, much less likely to cause pain in the elbow. What I did though was keep the weight fairly light on the pullovers. Since I’m a little afraid of dropping the bar on my head. I was actually thinking I might be better off figuring something out with the pull-up bar. I think about it for next week.

I’ve been doing low reps for so long that I forgot how much the 15 rep stuff takes it out of me. I keep thinking that I’m more fit, and lighter, so it shouldn’t be this hard.

From the HR monitor:

40 mins, 289 cals, Max HR: 163 (92%), Avg HR: 131 (74%)