Keep It Simple

Tuesday, June 28, 2010
169#

I started last week with the idea that I was really going to focus my efforts and get honed in on the Primal way of life and approach to nutrition. That lasted all of about 3 days before I derailed, (I owe you a book, Mr. Jenks) and since then, I have been working on getting dialed back in. I start the day doing well and lose my resolve as the evening hits. Last night I had my first all-out binge in a long time. It started with P.F. Chang's take out that I had gotten in Jacksonville and proceeded to cheesecake that was in the fridge for friends who are visiting and moved on to some ice cream Marc got then came right back to more cheesecake. Yes, I had some of all of it, and no, it wasn't just a bite or two of each. As a matter of fact, just sitting here writing about it, all I can think about is the fact that there is more cheesecake and more ice cream in the fridge and how since I'm off track already one more day of debauchery wouldn't be too bad. Thus, my goal is to make it through the next hour without eating anything off the plan. Then, I'll make it through the next hour, and so on...

Laurel Blackburn,RKC from Tallahassee has been one of many invaluable sources of support here lately, and she dropped me a message here recently to check in on me. In my response to her, I admitted that my motivation wasn't just waning with regard to my diet but that I have had a global loss of it. Laurel made a beautifully simple observation in response, "You must just be overall burned out." Huh. Damn. Makes perfect sense. As I reflected on my difficulty maintaining my diet, I realized that in many regards right now I am simply going through the motions of life. In short, I am taking one day at a time, in many ways surviving rather than thriving. Don't feel too sorry for me just yet. I struggle from moment to full and demanding moment because I am blessed with more love and opportunities than I know how to manage-literally. Every single day off for as long as I can remember, I have had something planned. No days of just hanging out, doing nothing, always somewhere to go and something to do. Too many goals. Too many friends and family to love and spend time with (I am being facetious here, btw). So I will be gentle on myself. I will do what I can. And I will take life, and all that comes with it, one moment at a time, reaching my goals slowly but surely.

WORKOUTS:
Still plugging along with the 3P's. Each workout has it's small victories as I begin to feel the mechanics of the motions more intricately. Each nuance builds on the one before it as I begin to put the pieces together. Though I am not a natural athlete, I tend to be persistent, and it is paying off a little at a time.

My Current Challenge to Myself

Sunday, June 20, 2010

My eating habits, while by no means horrible, have fallen by the wayside a bit since returning from the CK-FMS. Today they go back on track as I start the Primal Blueprint eating plan. I can't exactly follow the fitness portion of it, but that will come after I assist at Level 1 in October...or maybe after I get my first pull up and pistol. So, here we go. I will follow this plan until the RKC in October (actually, I plan to follow it from here on out, but my punitive measures will last until October). I will have a splurge meal when my in-laws come in July, and at our friends' marriage on August 1st, then again for my birthday August 15. My splurge meal will be a meal, not whole day. My dessert will either be homemade or ordered at a restaurant or will be no more than half a pint of ice cream. The days I am visiting my parents I will relax quite a bit. I don't see my parents very often, and I don't have many more more opportunities to eat my mom's cooking or my dad's, so I'm not going to restrict this week. (One of the things I miss about my grandmother is cooking Sunday dinner with her and sitting down to that meal. I want to make the most of this opportunity with my parents.) And if I backslide? My friends will benefit, and I'll just rotate through the list sending books: Mr. Jenks, Mr. Enu, Ms. Blackburn, Mr. Alford, Mr. Calleo. The game is afoot.

Slow Progress

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Really?! Three weeks already since I got back from CK-FMS?! Damn, time is really getting away from me.

I have been plugging away, but I have to admit that it has been less than a 100% effort. My work schedule has been solid, and the days I am working have been full tilt boogie all night long. Nights like that drain a person in a way I can't even begin to describe. Until this weekend, even all of my days off were booked full of activities, so there has been little time for decompression. My resolve softens in times like these. Sometimes I think it's my body telling me it needs a breath. I know I have trouble keeping "in tune" with my body, so I struggle with trying to figure out whether I am lazy or whether my system is unraveling. Regardless, I only worked out four days last week, and my nutrition has been off, not horrifically, but off. The extra 30-60 minutes of sleep and the Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey sucked me right in.

I am still steadily working Pavel's Fighter Pull up Plan for advancing my pull up, my pistol, and my push up numbers. The progress might seem a bit lame, but it is undoubtedly progress and for once I am trying to allow myself to be proud of it instead of being ashamed that I am so lame that such numbers actually are progress.

TODAY'S WORKOUT:
Purple band assisted pull ups/Perfect push ups: 4/11, 3/10, 2/9, 1/8, 1/7--Just so happens this is the first time I've ever done more than 10 push ups--at least the way push ups are supposed to be done.
Partial Pistols: I went from going down to my platform with a sandbag on it to going down to the bare platform today. 3/3, 2/2, 1/1, 1/1
100 16kg snatches in 7' ~15". I was doing this in 5 rounds of 1'30" and I decreased it to 1'25" today. Unfortunately, I had to go a little over.