get - togethers
Since I have gotten more focused on diet and exercise, I haven’t been to that many of them and last night was my first experience with one as a more health conscious person. My friend was having a housewarming party that I couldn’t miss. I was nervous and didn’t know what my willpower would be like around all the food. Before, I would just eat what I wanted and think "it’s ok, I’m working out tomorrow," but I never got anywhere closer to my goal thinking like that.
I already had my cheat meal for the week and didn’t plan this get-together to be another one…
I planned my diet for the day, but due do timeframe I only had in 3 of my 5-6 meals in for the day when I arrived at the gathering -It started at 5:00 and I was trying to not be late this time! Time got away from me as I was busy running errands, my workout, etc…so when I left I thought I would stop off and grab an energy bar to eat so the food wouldn’t be so tempting…
But on my way to her house, there was a detour and the freeway was inexcessible for a ways. I am not familiar with her side of town, so I took a couple wrong turns trying to figure out the best way to get there…anyways, I ended up running out of time and didn’t get to stop off and get an energy bar either….oh nooooooooooooooo!!!
I told myself that it wasn’t so bad because I really had room for more calories since I didn’t eat all my meals for the day…she had Doritos, Ruffles, veggies and dips, and some sandwiches. I started with the veggie tray and a diet coke. Then I got a plate and had some chips, but someone brought a homemade 5 layer dip that I had to try…I didn’t go crazy, probably ate around 3 tablespoons of the dip! And I had to have a sandwich-they were on croissant rolls, turkey and swiss with lettuce–no mayo! ( I know, the croissant probably had 1,000,000,000 calories itself)..and more chips..luckily no one brought dessert!!
I know I went over my usual number of calories, but feel like I handled my first social diet challenge pretty well, all things considered. Next time I will make more of an effort to get all my meals in before I go, and leave much less room for temptation! Oh yeah, another thing that I resisted…alcohol!! While everyone was doing shots, I was doing diet coke! haha..but I have no desire to drink, especially on the day of a leg workout–since the alcohol takes water out of the muscle, my soreness increases by 50% the next day. I’ve been there, done that, and not happenin again..lol!
As far as the workout status goes, I did a leg one yesterday. I increased my pace a little and ran 20 minutes. Then I did squats on the smith machine. I don’t know if I am still doing them wrong or what, but the last 2 x I have done them, I hold the bar a little back off my shoulders, so it’s not sitting right at the base of my neck, but while I am lifting, after a few reps, I feel like I am straining somehow in the neck area and feel a little like I might pass out. I haven’t ever passed out before, and I’m only lifting the bar plus 40 lbs…when I first started doing squats I did them with a barbell across my shoulders and didn’t have this problem…kinda strange! Then I did lunges, the hamstring curl machine, and another smith leg machine-(can’t think of the name of it)..I only did a few machines, but I kept repeating what I was doing going back and forth until I exhausted each area I was working on. I feel good about it because today I am sore in all the areas I worked…but not too sore that I can’t do my cardio today…yay!!
November 16, 2008 at 1:54 pm
have you tried using one of those neck pads on the smith machine squats? that should help with the neck strain, also you may wanna try using a stance where the bar is somewhere on the middle of your traps which will help with the strain as well, and try to make sure your legs are a bit in front of the bar which willl reduce the strain on your lower back. Give those three things a try and let me know what you think!
November 16, 2008 at 4:07 pm
I do use the pad. In fact, each time I do squats at my gym I have go searching for the pad to put it on! I will try lowering the bar on my shoulders and see if that helps next time. Thanks for the ideas!
November 17, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Yay!!! Good for you! That’s awesome. Alcohol for me is the biggest temptation. I can avoid chips (somtimes) but it’s the darn booze that gets me. I didn’t know it takes 50% of the water from your muscles, good to know. I am not a big drinker anyway, so it won’t kill me. The squat thing, sounds like you might be leaning forward to much. Check the alignment of your feet / knees. Make sure your knees are going over your toe area. It helps to position your feet a bit more forward too. Also, those pad things for the bar helps with the weight on your shoulders too. So, what do we do about thanksgiving? It’s a food dilemma that’s been weighing heavy on my mind..