Even with the workout today it was kind of a slow day.  It was too cold to be outside in the morning so I did a few things indoors.  I cut the last of the free wood we got earlier in the late afternoon (mid-size wood that I was sawing in half with the pruning saw), and that’s about it.  Kind of a boring day really.  I should be in bed but at the moment am not tired at all.  That’s going to be a problem early tomorrow morning. 

Food for the day:

Total: 2270 calories (25% fat, 40% protein, 35% carbs)

Breakfast: egg/egg white omelet, cracked wheat oatmeal bread, jam, orange (404)
AM Snack: beef jerky (108)
Lunch: lentil/chicken soup, italian cheese bread, apple (487)
PWO Snack: protein shake with sour cherries (281)
PM Snack: hummus, flatbread (164)
Dinner: sirloin steak, corn,  butter, salad w/dressing (652)
Evening Snack: fruit salad, chocolate zucchini cake (174)

NROL - Break-in A5

So, I did a 5-min cardio warm-up outside (brr cold), followed by 10 reps each of the prescribed warm-up (except for the t-push-ups - can’t do them). Then I did:

A: Barbell Squat - 60t/15, 65t/15
B1: Static Lunge - 25e/15, 27.5e/15
B2: Two-pt Dumbbell Row with Elbow Out - 27.5e/15, 30e/15
C1: Push-up - 15, 15
C2: Swiss-Ball Crunch - 20, 20

Then I did the metabolic overdrive intervals - 3, with 5-min warm up and cool down. (19 mins total)

51 mins, 386 cals, Max HR: 171 (97%), Avg HR: 131 (74%)

The workout was pretty good. It was probably a touch cold to be doing the intervals outside, but it’s done. It’s not too bad when the wind isn’t blowing, but it feels pretty damn cold when it is. The workout was good though - that’s the last of the Break-in A workouts. I’m actually a workout behind. In theory I should have done this workout on Thurs, then the B workout today, then just intervals on Tues and Thurs. So I’ll do the B workout on Tuesday, just intervals on Thursday, and move onto weeks 5-8 (Fat Loss II).

This morning’s weigh-in was 244.0, which is 1.6 pounds down from last week. The 9-week gain, however, is 9.4lbs (1.04/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 33 on plan with food.

Scary how quickly my weight went up, isn’t it? The quick drop appears to be over. I suppose I’d hoped that it would last longer. I did briefly see 233.6 at the end of March, so seriously, no congratulations until then!

Next week’s plan is:

Continue the Break-in phase of New Rules of Lifting, 3 days a week. 30-45 min walks 5 days a week (with my mother), aiming for 45 mins on non-lifting days. I’m a day behind week-3 (which actually ends in week-4), so I’ll be doing the last workout on Tuesday, taking only Thursday off. For June I’ll likely continue at the same food levels - 2000 on non-workout days and 2250-2300 on lifting days and see how that goes.

And the 9-week graph…

I just realised that I didn’t do a food post last night. Everything was good, with a beef stir-fry with broccoli for dinner (1995 cals, 35% protein). The cheaper eye of the round worked well with the marinade so we won’t be buying flank steak for it again. Basically I just did gardening stuff yesterday as the weather was nice. Not sure what’s up for today as it’s still pretty cold even though it’s almost 11am (ie. 10C, 50F) so I might do inside stuff today.

I’m so tired this morning. I got up earlier and was really slow at getting out the door. I ran into the neighbour coming down her driveway, so we walked together. That would be fast, real fast. 

Now I’m tired and my legs are sore. Oh well, I definitely got a better workout than I would have on my own. I’m determined not to ask her to slow down, so if nothing else I end up burning a ton of calories. The good news is that the rain has stopped, and the sun just came out. So I think I’ll go do a few things outside (or cut up and freeze more meat and then go outside).

- - - - -

Well, I’m still tired, but it’s night so I can sleep.  The pool guy came and gave us a quick fix (plugged the outlets, bypassed the returns in the ground, and dropped a piece of tubing into the pool).  He won’t be back for a couple of weeks but it’s nice to be able to run the pump without then having to fill the pool up.  He doesn’t think it’s really a big problem, but it will be two or three weeks before he’s not so busy and can come back to fix it.  I’m actually so glad we started dealing with him two years ago.  The service is much better, and he’s cheaper than the last people we were dealing with (some of that is because he, on purpose, didn’t finish the opening this year - and I did the rest).

Tomorrow looks like it might be a decent day so I’m going to get to bed soon so I can be well rested tomorrow.  I finished bagging up the meat sauce today, put the last batch of chicken in to freeze, and cut a big eye of the round roast into (hopefully) stir-fry meat.  We’ve been using flank steak, but it’s pretty pricey.  The eye of the round was on for $2 a pound, and the recipe I use with the stir-fry seems to make the flank steak very tender.  So, we’re going to try some tomorrow to see how it works.  If it doesn’t work well I’ll thaw the rest of the meat I sliced today (in the future) and use it for beef jerky.

Food for the day:

Total: 1991 calories (25% fat, 31% protein, 44% carbs)

Breakfast: breakfast bake, cracked wheat oatmeal bread, jam, orange (355)
AM Snack: beef jerky (108)
Lunch: beef barley soup, italian cheese bread, apple (497)
PM Snack: hummus, flatbread (164)
Dinner: orange pork, grilled veggies (zucchini, onion, mushrooms), salad w/dressing (620)
Evening Snack: fruit salad, protein shake (276)

Sigh, the day is already over. I’m trying very hard during my summer break to not slip into my late night habits (as they’ll be way too hard to break again). The getting up 5 days a week between 7 and 7:30 is helping. If it’s dry tomorrow morning I’ll walk (on my own), if not I’ll use the treadmill. We have a leak in the pool and the pool guy is coming to diagnose it (ie. tell us how much it’s going to cost us). The thing is I know the leak is not in the liner (that would be easy - I’d let the water level drop and/or get my snorkel mask out and look for it). We’re only dropping water level when the pump is on, so it’s one of the underground lines. Yep, the ones under the concrete surround. Not really an expense we need this summer, but I don’t think running the pump part-time and topping up the water daily is the solution.

Food for the day:

Total: 2275 calories (25% fat, 38% protein, 37% carbs)

Breakfast: breakfast bake, cracked wheat oatmeal bread, jam, orange (355)
AM Snack: beef jerky (108)
Lunch: beef minestrone soup, italian cheese bread, apple (440)
PWO Snack: protein shake with sour cherries (281)
PM Snack: hummus, flatbread (164)
Dinner: orange pork, grilled veggies (zucchini, onion, mushrooms), salad w/dressing (620)
Evening Snack: fruit salad, protein shake (307)

I did a 5-min cardio warm-up on the treadmill, followed by 10 reps each of the prescribed warm-up (except for the t-push-ups - can’t do them). Then I did:

A: Deadlift - 70t/15, 75/15
B1: Step-up - 15e/15, 15e/15
B2: Dumbbell one-arm shoulder press - 22e/15, 25e/15
C1: Chin-up (assisted/attempts) - 15, 15
C2: Reverse Crunch - 20, 20

Then I did the metabolic overdrive intervals - 3, with 5-min warm up and cool down. (19 mins total)

53 mins, 385 cals, Max HR: 168 (95%), Avg HR: 128 (72%)

The workout was better than the last time. I’m still struggling a lot with the step-ups (not sure why).

What a crappy day out. It was kind of mix of mist, rain, pouring rain, etc. I did 30 mins on the treadmill this morning instead of walking outside. I really haven’t done that much today. A quick run to a store this morning (for a sale item they didn’t have yesterday), made some meat sauce, cut up and froze chicken parts, and did a little laundry. It would be nice if the weather went back to ‘not raining’ but we’ll see.

I lost track of the time tonight so I’m doing a quick and dirty post.  I did 45 mins on the treadmill this morning as it looked like rain.  Of course it didn’t rain so tomorrow if it’s not actually raining I’ll go outside for a quick walk (30 mins).  I did a little shopping today and baked some chocolate zucchini cake for the freezer.  Oh, and I had this inspired thought while I was waiting for the cake to bake.  The eggs in the cakes seem to overcome the fact that I’m not using any actual flour.  I have an old recipe for a cheesy batter bread, which uses both yeast and eggs for the rising.  So I put together a half batch (supposed to be baked in a bundt pan or ring pan) and divided it between two small pans.

Instead of ~2.5 cups of white flour I used a combination of white flour, soy flour, and unflavoured protein powder.  I also cut back the butter and sugar a bit as well.  It turned out fairly well, with probably only one change for next time - make the full recipe in the bundt pan.  I forgot that it tends to rise quite high, but fall slightly.  Since you normally bake it in a bundt pan you turn it over to serve it (so it doesn’t matter).  The macros turned out as: 31% protein, 32% fat, 37% carbs, which is pretty good considering it had a nice soft texture.  It’s still not a really light bread, but neither was the original.  Too much butter and cheese for it to be a low-cal bread, but it’s not really high cal either.  When I make it again I’ll take a picture of the completed bread and put up the recipe.  I’m really quite happy with it.  I made it because tomorrow I’m going back to having soup for lunch and wanted a bread to go with it.

Food for the day:

Total: 2003 calories (30% fat, 30% protein, 40% carbs)

Breakfast: breakfast bake, cracked wheat oatmeal bread, jam, orange (355)
AM Snack: beef jerky (108)
Lunch: multi-grain tortilla, mustard, eye of round, lettuce, apple (438)
PM Snack: italian cheese bread, butter (195)
Dinner: beef/turkey burgers, multi-grain sandwich thin, condiments, salad w/dressing (736)
Evening Snack: apple, chocolate zucchini cake (170)

Yes, a little heavy on the baked goods today, but with great protein levels on two of them they’re pretty easy to work in.

It was kind of a weird, boring day today. The weather sucked - cold and windy, but it still hasn’t rained. There were a few drops about 7pm, but not the deluge we’re supposed to be getting. I’m trying to figure out how I spent the day. I walked in the morning, made the breakfast bake fresh this morning, baked zucchini spice cake, mowed the lawn, wasted a lot of time (read for a while), finally did my workout (pretty late in the day). Not a bad day, but I think (like the cats) I’m a little stir crazy being stuck inside.

I’ll set the alarm for the usual time tomorrow but I think I’ll probably end up doing my walking on the treadmill (although we’ll see). I’m planning a little more baking tomorrow (chocolate zucchini cake), some shopping, and then who knows what.

Food for the day:

Total: 2268 calories (26% fat, 34% protein, 40% carbs)

Breakfast: breakfast bake, cracked wheat oatmeal bread, jam, orange (355)
AM Snack: beef jerky (108)
Lunch: multi-grain tortilla, mustard, eye of round, lettuce, apple (438)
PWO Snack: protein shake with sour cherries (281)
PM Snack: hummus, flatbread (231)
Dinner: spicy meatloaf with roasted potatoes, broccoli, butter, salad w/dressing (580)
Evening Snack: fruit salad, protein shake (276)

NROL - Break-in A4

So, I did a 5-min cardio warm-up on the treadmill, followed by 10 reps each of the prescribed warm-up (except for the t-push-ups - can’t do them). Then I did:

A: Barbell Squat - 55t/15, 60t/15
B1: Static Lunge - 22e/15, 25e/15
B2: Two-pt Dumbbell Row with Elbow Out - 25e/15, 27.5e/15
C1: Push-up - 15, 15
C2: Swiss-Ball Crunch - 20, 20

Then I did the metabolic overdrive intervals - 3, with 5-min warm up and cool down. (19 mins total)

51 mins, 383 cals, Max HR: 170 (96%), Avg HR: 130 (73%)

The workout was pretty good.  After yesterday being so beautiful the weather switched to cold and windy.  So the cardio work was all inside on the treadmill today.  I did walk outside this morning - with a jacket on!