Diet diet diet! I need to re-focus!

My diet has been absolutely horrible.

Trying to be moderate is actually harder than being really strict.  It's probably a psychological thing.  Eating a cookie or having a few chips or eating rice are invitations to disaster.  So, I'm turning back to my more extreme eating methods.

One thing I'm going to try is eating the same or similar meals everyday.  It's not as hard as one might think. The trick is to re-frame food as fuel and not as a source of pleasure.

This isn't to say that taste doesn't matter, because it does.  If the fuel (food) tastes bad then it becomes torture.  So, it needs to be moderately tasty even as it is viewed as fuel.

I'm also falling back on my protein shakes.  So many people I've met think its junk.  My response is simple - you can't argue with my results.  When I add protein drinks in place of some meals I get results.  I lose weight, I get stronger and my running is solid.

Patience, vigilence...

My workouts and my eating habits are on track and I feel good. I've been consistent since the beginning of the year. That's a long time for me. Going forward I need to have patience and vigilence.

I need patience because I'm getting antsy about results. I want to strength and endurance to increase rapidly. I want the weight to come off rapidly too. I've been working hard but I've tried to be very mindful of not over-exerting myself. Hey, I'm thinking in terms of reality and not vanity! I've been moderate about my diet as well. There have been no crash dieting going on. While all of this is good, the net effect is that the gains/losses are very slow. Patience. Must be patient!

Of course I can't let patience become complacency. I know that the body reacts in strange ways. There is a real risk of plateauing or reaching a place where the exercise and diet become so routine that my body adapts and the gains/losses stagnate. That's where the vigilence comes in (as well as this blog!). By constantly thinking about what I'm doing and the gains/losses I'm making, I can ease up or intensify my efforts from time to time.

My hope is that a combination of patience and vigilence will keep the gains/losses on track.

Lack of focus leads to crappy workout

I had a lot on my mind yesterday. Usually a good workout can clear my head but alas the little things tripped me up in the end and resulted in a very crappy workout.

I signed up for laundry service at FFC. When I got to the gym my laundry bag was, as expected, in my locker. Great!

But wait - the clothes were all damp and smelly - not so great. I almost allowed myself to walk out of the gym without working out. Instead I put on the damp clothes and did some of my work out.

Yesterday was my day to lift weights. Specifically, to work on my legs and chest. I started with my legs and did all the exercises I needed to do. I was able to hit the right level of intensity during this phase of the workout. It took me about 20 minutes. But then, rather than moving on to dumbbell chest presses, I jumped on the exercise bike for a mild 25 minute ride. The heart rate monitor said I got my heart rate to where it needs to be for my age for a cardio workout (I have my doubts about that because I hardly broke a sweat).

I'm glad I got through the workout though. I weighed in afterwards and was surprised to see that I had lost 5 lbs. since I first weighed in at the beginning of the month. Not bad.

The positive feedback from the scale was enough to keep me motivated through the rest of the day. I had a couple of sandwiches for dinner - tuna w/ dijon mustard and roast beef w/ dijon mustard (both on whole wheat bread) and some skim milk. It was a lot better than the tradition rice and fatty/rich Indian dishes I'm often tempted with most nights.

Overall, 2/18/10 turned out to be a good fitness day.