JJanet

So here’s yet another post from me that has nothing to do about training or nutrition. I realized something really important yesterday. Ever since I got back from my quick break with my friends, I have been so outrageously lonely for my female friends! Seeing my buddy, especially the female one, made me truly miss having a close friend around. Among my female friends, I have four that I would consider the type of friend I would call up if I was feeling down. Two of them live in Canada, one moved to the U.K last fall, and the other lives here, but is a busy mommy of two. Lately, the only people I have been around are all male. Which is fine and all, but. Seriously. When you want to get out a good noisy vent, and just talk for the sake of being heard, sometimes, men just can’t suit this role as well as women can. Sometimes they do, but in my experience, many of the men who listen want so much to help you that they just can’t resist offering you a solution to your ‘problem’.

It’s like that scene from White Men Can’t Jump.

Woman: I’m so thirsty.

Man: (Goes and gets her a glass of water)

Woman: When I said I was thirsty, it doesn’t mean I want a glass of water. You’re missing the whole point of me saying I’m thirsty. If I have a problem, you’re not supposed to solve it. Men always make the mistake
of thinking they can solve a woman’s problem. It makes them feel omnipotent.It’s a way of controlling a woman.

Man: By bringing them a glass of water??!!

LMAO!!!!!!!! Truly, I don’t think it’s a matter of control. I just think that among the men I have met, they seem to have a tough time listening to a problem without offering a solution about how to fix it. And you can bet that when I have a problem that I am actively working to solve, the first person I usually ask is male.

But I miss my gals. I have not been terribly successful in forging new, female friendships in this city, despite the fact that I have been here for over 4 years. I am actively working on being more friendly and making my mannerisms more inviting and open, but so far, it has only attracted more men. Any advice on how to make more (female) friends?

I am a Whole Foods Junkie. There is little I enjoy more than heading into this wonderful little market and getting lost in the beautiful and vast array of organic and wholesome products. I have come across three products in the last week that are worth mentioning.

My first one: Z Sweet

It is an artificial sweetner called Erythritol that is in the sugar alcohol family. If you ever indulged in a cup or two of some ice cream sweetened with sugar alcohols like sorbitol or maltitol, you’re probably already familiar with the effects of such a seemingly carefree treat! That’s right. Gas. Horrible. Wretched. Putrid. Gas. And if you took a third helping… God help you. Not that I would know anything about this or anything.

*Darts eyes*.

Yes, my friends! Sugar alcohols are the only sweetners that I have ever tasted that mimic the taste of sugar closely enough for me to be fooled! But they also contain a decent calorie punch, and the gastronomical effects it had on me was definitely NOT worth the sweet treat. But Erythritol is different! It is one of the few sugar alcohols that do not carry those horrible side effects as it digests in a different way than its other relatives. Better than that, it TASTES like sugar!! It completely ROCKS in the few things I have put it in… the one exception to this being hot chocolate. It tasted really foul in there, for some reason. So if you ever on the lookout for a new ingredient to bring some sweetness into your food, I highly recommend Zsweet!

 My next product: Xanthan Gum

I completely adore all of Bob’s Red Mill’s product line! But this one was a new one for me! Xanthan gum is a polysaccharide (a multi-stranded sugar unit) that is used to thicken liquids. I LOVE this one because it has 35 calories per spoon, and all of it’s calories come from dietary fibre! YAY!! No more corn starch or flours for me! I have been successful with using it in a few soups and shakes, but be careful! A little goes a LONG way! Definitely a buy-again in my books!

The third one was something I thought would replace the salt in my diet: Nu-Salt.

It has the flavor of salt, the texture of salt, all without the SODIUM of salt! It is a Potassium Chloride instead of a Sodium Chloride. Sounds too good to be true, yes??!!

Umm. YESSSS!!!!

It is vile. VILE I SAY. I had to throw out all the chicken that I made that I trustingly sprinkled with my new best friend. HORRIBLE. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. In a salt survey, it is the only salt (or salt substitute) that scored a negative 1.02 out of a possible 10 points.

LOL!!

F*uckDamnSh!tthisf*ucktohell.

Okay. I feel a bit better now. Swearing feels so cathartic to me. This may be because I was sent to a super strict private Christian school my entire life, and I was forbidden to say even the word, "dang" because it resembled ‘damn’ too closely. LOL!

But on to why I am so cantankerous right now. Even WORSE than making no progress, (ie. how nice would stalling/mainintaing be right now?!), I have gained a total of 6.4 pounds in 2.5 weeks. IT IS NOT WATER WEIGHT. How I LONG for the problems of 3+ weeks ago when the weight was dropping right off my frame!! Even if some (most?) of it WAS muscle!

AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Seriously guys, no comforting words for me, please. I don’t want them. Puhahahaha! My self-pity will be over shortly because getting these words out is already making me feel loads better! I leave for my sunny little vacation to Vegas tomorrow, and there is NO way I am ruining my trip by feeling all sorry for myself! I have a plan for myself when I return. HARDCORE CUTTING will start on SUNDAY when I return. That’s right! I am going to take off those BLASTED 6.4 pounds, and an extra 3.6 to show it’s who’s boss! MUAHAHAHAHA. It may take me two months. But f*uckDamnSh!t if I’m going to let it stick around!

/rant.

Soooo… I know I don’t have the best track record with recommending good recipes. LOL! But I made some low-carb waffles that were just delicious to a carb-deprived person like myself! I am not a HUGE chocolate person, but  I had a zazzle for it and came up with:

Chocolate Raspberry Waffles

- 1 scoop of ON Vanilla Casein, 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder, 2 tablespoons of Ghiradelli unsweetened ground cocoa, 4 egg whites, and enough water to make it the appropriate waffle-like batter.

It made 12 mini-waffles, and 6 was enough for me! I mixed 1/4 cup of sugar free syrup with some raspeberries, drizzled it over it, and YUM! I sneakingly fed it to an unknowing friend to get their unbiased opinion. It got a resounding "YUM!" from them. They had no idea it had no flour in it!

The macros for 12 mini waffles comes out to: 250 calories, 3.5 grams of fat, 9 grams of carbs, and 49 grams of protein!! If you make the raspberry syrup, throw in another 50 cals.

And a picture of my masterpiece.

LOL. Okay, so I changed my mind about the gaining muscle goal. LMAO!! That didn’t last long, huh? I want to keep leaning out until I can see veins in my lower abs. I think I’m quite naturally a vascular person (I get crazy, bulgey veins in my chest, arms and legs when I work out!) so if I keep progressing at the same rate, I think I should be able to meet my goal within the next few months.

I am currently megadosing BCAA’s right now, following the mighty Trixter’s lead! I was all cocky yesterday because he said it irritated his stomach and the first time I took it (yesterday), I had no problems with it. HAHAHA! That changed today durng my workout earlier. OMG, you guys, I started feeling light headed and nauseous about 15 minutes into my workout, but wanted to keep going. I kept pushing myself as hard as I could, and while I was doing weighted crunches, I almost lost it. I squirmed to get the towel out from underneath me and threw it on the ground so I could vomit on it. But through sheer will power, I managed to stop myself. Ugh. I still feel yucky.

I was driving on my way to the gym behind this big truck. I hate being behind, beside or anywhere near trucks because I can’t even count how many times they’ve almost run me over because they never see my car. Anyway, this truck makes this rather aggressive lane change, and runs over this big plastic jug that’s used to store oil that was sitting on the road. At least that’s what I think it was for. It flew right in my path, and I tried to dodge it, but FREAK IT ALL TO HELL, I went RIGHT over it, and my car smushed it, and it got stuck right between the top of my tire, and the carriage of my car. My car made the most god-awful sound. I pulled over and this guy waiting at a traffic light yells at me, "TAKE OFF YOUR EMERGENCY BRAKE!".

WTF?!! WHO THE F*CK asked you?! LOL! Anyway, I get down on my knees and it was pretty obvious where the problem was. I had to wait until I could pull over, and the little bit of driving I did with that jug rubbing against my tire turned the tire, rim, and most of that side of the car a nice RED. It was SO HARD TO GET OUT!!! I had both hands on it, and I was yanking back with all of my strength. And like magic. It loosened, and I fell back SO frigging hard. In a skirt. With an audience.

:P My pride has suffered worse, though. So I dusted myself off, tried to wipe some of the oil off of my hands, arms, and legs. I got back into my car, tried to smear the oil off of my face (how did I even get it on there??!), parked the car, and went into the gym with my head held high. LOL. I had a terrific workout. I pushed out some of personal bests on some leg exercises. I love Fridays!

I have put off doing one thing for several months now. It’s something I see almost everyone else doing on bb.com, but I have have made excuse after excuse as to why I shouldn’t do it. It is… the dreaded … Workout Journal. Yes, yes, I KNOW all the reasons why it’s so paramount to do this, and this is why I’ve finally conceded. LOL. I don’t see anyone else walking around the gym with a journal, and I’ll admit it, I don’t like to be different in that sense! Call me a sheep. BBBBAH! But I finally put one together, shamelessly plagarizing off a friend. (Thanks, Man! )

Today was my first day doing this new program. It is broken up into a 4 day set up as follows:

1)Chest, back and shoulders, 2)Biceps, legs, and triceps, 3)Chest, back and shoulders, 4)Biceps, legs and triceps, with each workout using different exercises to hit the muscles. The other two days a week will be spent doing abs and cardio. I am going to be doing this for the next 6 weeks, and I have set target weight goals for all the exercises!

So those cursed three pounds are still hanging out, making themselves at home. LOL. I really want to believe they are muscle, but I read an article a while back that said something along the lines of, "Women who eat properly and lift weights regularly can expect to gain an average of 2 pounds of muscle in a year". Any truth to this? I’ve tried googling for more information, but I just keep getting back irrelevant results.

Since last week, I gained 3 pounds. THREE. It’s definitely not water, I am not bloated, nor is it that ‘wonderous’ time of month. And they’ve stuck around for a few days now, so I’m guessing it’s actual weight that I’ve gained! LOL. I am annoyed by its unwelcomed presence. Grrrrrrrr… Time to start back up on the Lipo 6x again!

Someone told me that in my progress pictures, I should try standing with both of my legs straight. LOL. There’s a reason for that, actually! When I shattered my kneecap when I was skiing, it was set in a cast for several months, and I sort of neglected doing my physio properly. Oops. As a result, standing with equal pressure on both of my legs puts an uncomfortable pressure on my hip, so I almost always stand sort of crooked. LOL. Ah well. I can’t be perfect. JUST KIDDING!

All right. I have a small confession to make. So I was all gung-ho a few days ago about starting my new workout program. But I skipped my workout yesterday. And I am going to skip doing it today as well. LOL. Please tell me how much I suck?