JJanet 
"15 workouts for August!"
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Archive for April, 2008
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
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?
Posted in Other
Thursday, April 24th, 2008
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!!
Posted in Training
Monday, April 21st, 2008
Good Lord! What an impression Vegas has left on my virgin eyes! LOL! Unbelievable! After a smooth flight with a ridiculously rough landing, I saw my beloved friends from my hometown (Alberta, Canada!), and was just so thrilled to be back with them! We ate an extremely late dinner, caught up for a few hours, and then called it a night at 4 am. Little did I know that the first night would be the most sleep we would get the entire weekend. LOL!
We woke up, bright and early the next morning, and went to a fabulous restaurant with the most wicked array of food! YUM! Soooo… did Janet stick to her clean foods, completely mindful of her fitness goals for the upcoming weeks? Ummmmm… no.
 My resolve to eat cleanly lasted about two meals. And then I decided that it was a good time to indulge myself, sensibly, and take part in eating some of the delectable morsels that Vegas offered in spades! YUM! So freaking good. I am entirely grateful that I had the foresight to allow myself that luxury because I definitely would have regretted it had I not. Eating cleanly is meaningless if I don’t have the willpower to allow myself a decent cheat every once in a while. At least, this is what I kept telling myself as the guilt crept up on me. Hehehe! I even had a bit of alcohol! My allergy to yeast prevents me from drinking much of anything, but I decided one girly drink wouldn’t kill me. It’s no fun being sober when everyone else is ticklishly tipsy!
I had my first gambling experience! I was only brave enough to try the machines, though, as the tables were a bit intimidating. I made the mistake of trying to walk behind the dealers (an enormous no-no!). LOL. An innocent mistake on my part, but man, did they freak out on me! They were about to call security until my friend came over and told them I had never been in a casino before. So mortifying! LMAO!
We went to see Penn and Teller, the magical duo! Excellent show if you are interested in that sort of stuff!
I’m not really much of a fan of magic, but the showmanship was so intricate, and some of the things they did really were quite unbelievable! Between my friends and I, we had already seen most of the other shows that were playing in Vegas, so it came down to this or seeing Le Reve again. I think it was the more entertaining option!
Notice my dress? I thought it was insanely cute. You can see it better here:
LOL! So this dress marks the first time anyone has ever mistook me for a HOOKER. Men were all over me this weekend. They were probably all over anything that moved, breathed and had the correct female anatomical parts though, so I did not consider this a compliment to me in the slightest! But any moment when I was alone, and even some times when I was with my friends, I had to battle off the drooling, drunken creepos. Yuck. But after we saw the show, we all split off for a bit, and I went to go find some bandaids for my poor, aching feet. This guy comes up to me and starts making conversation, and asked what I had planned for the rest of the night. I told him I was going to be quite busy, and then he asked: “Soo… umm… how much for the night?”
*JAW DROPPED*
In retrospect, I have a whole slew of stuff I would have liked to say/do to him. My dearest friend said she would have kicked him in the balls (She actually is someone who would actually do this!). She also suggested insulting the size of his penis. LOL! But I have trouble even saying the word ‘penis’ and keeping a straight face. LMAO! Another friend said I should have pointed out that I was carrying a Bottega Veneta handbag, and asked if he could afford me! Somehow, I think that would have flown right over his head, though. In the end, I gawked at him for about 4 solid seconds and said, “I’m not for hire”, and nearly flew out of the drugstore.
*GROANS*. I kicked myself for not thinking of something more clever and biting to say afterwards! I am that Seinfeld episode where George tortures himself with coming up with a comeback several hours later. But after about a half hour of being sincerely insulted and wanting to burn that dress, LOL, I was over it.
We squeezed some shopping into our trip, even though we were pretty pressed for time! They (the Canadians) couldn’t get over how inexpensive everything was compared to back home, so they loaded up on the goods! They were certainly plenty of stores, but nothing that is unavailable to me over here.
Looking at that picture, it seems I am a walking ad for the Juicy store. LOL!! Between the shopping, eating, gambling, and drinking, we also managed to fit in a trip to see the Hoover Dam! How amazing!
It’s such an imposing structure that is surprisingly beautiful. We wanted to take a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon as well, but by then, we started feeling the strain of having such a short weekend vacation. We headed back to our city of the seven deadly sins and continued our debauchery.
I had a boatload of fun. But I am so glad to be home. There really is no other place like it. I am still trying to get caught up on my sleep, and wash the smell of the casinos that somehow seeped deep into my pores. LOL!
Posted in Other
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
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. 
Posted in Other
Monday, April 14th, 2008
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.
Posted in Training
Thursday, April 10th, 2008
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.
Posted in Training
Wednesday, April 9th, 2008
I think I am just about done with cutting. My abs are not exactly perfect, but they have changed enough for me to be content with laying out in a bikini. No six-pack, but I am not as disappointed about that as I thought I might be. Since starting this new workout program last week, I feel like I’m starting to get a lot stronger. I am thinking I might want a little more muscle. And I know in order to do that, I can’t be eating below maintenance. I have been eating below maintenance for such a long time now that it feels a bit scary to think I will be adding weight/mass on purpose! But maybe it’s time? I don’t know. LOL. So indecisive! I took a picture of my bicep today.
So my quest for more muscles begins after I take off the excess calories I am sure to gain from my vacation next week! So maybe two weeks from now, I will be trying to gain more muscle. Maybe. LOL. Has anyone had success with adding more muscle while eating maintenance?? Can you tell I have a hangup about eating too much food? LOL!!
Posted in Training
Saturday, April 5th, 2008
My friend had her baby yesterday. She was 5 pounds and 15 oz, and is simply breathtaking. Her name is Leah, and I just can’t believe how perfect she is. Really stunning. It almost made me cry. She asked if I wanted to hold her, but I was too scared. She looked as if she would break if I even breathed too hard on her. LOL. But I caved. When else would I have the chance to hold her as a newborn? With her mommy’s permission, here is little Leah and I.
Just beautiful. After I left the happy little family, I went to the gym to push out a workout. I normally take Saturday and often Sunday off as well, but I wanted to make up for the slack earlier this week, so off I went. The gym was really busy. I think it might have been the first time I went at this hour on a Saturday. In particular, there were TONS of teenagers. Now I have NOTHING against teenagers. But put a few of them together… especially teenaged BOYS, they tend to be a little annoying. This one group today really got under my skin.
I noticed them making rude crotch grabbing gestures towards me. Har har har. But I ignored them and went on with my ab workout. I went to the cable cross machine, turned my music up nice and LOUD, and did a set of weighted kneeling cable crunches. I always feel extremely self-concious doing these, LOL. So it was to my HORROR when I finished my set, one of the kids had his crotch about 2 inches behind my butt making mock thrusts at me while using the other side of *MY* cable cross machine, doing pretend exercises. His buddies, of course, were in hysterics. They were waiting to see what I’d do.
And now this is where I come in and tell you guys all about how I gave him hell, made him and his buddies CRY, and flexed my biceps while they cowered. LOL. NOT! I wish. Some day, though, I will have the guts to react like that, but for today, I managed a reaction that showed me that I’ve come a looooooooong way. I raised my eyebrow at the horny teenager, grabbed my stuff, and went to do a set of weighted situps. After a set of these, I glanced back at the cable cross machine, and the boys were nowhere to be seen. I went back to finish up my set, and lo and behold, they appeared again. This time, a different one came up to me. By now, several other people have noticed what they were doing, but they seemed to be waiting to see how I would react. I gave him a cool stare, and didn’t bother with trying to do a set of the crunches. I went back to doing some situps, and this time, they followed me.
AGHHHHHH. WTF. LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE.
I thought to myself, ‘I could tell them to f*ck off. Or I could make contact with one of the many people around who seemed to be protective of me and have them say something. I could tell one of the trainers what they were doing and they would probably be asked to leave.’
My hubris prevents me from asking for help in a situation like this, (although there is certainly nothing wrong with asking for help!!). While the three boys cluttered around the mahine beside me, I calmly finished my set of sit ups with a 25 pound plate. When I was done, I threw it very carefully on the ground and aimed for one of their feet. The thurster’s feet, to be specific. It caught the very edge of his shoe, and he yelled out, "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK". I smirked and said, "I’m so sorry!!!" with my eyes opened widely. And sweetly added, "I didn’t see you there".
And then I rocked the rest of my workout.
Bwahahahahahahaha. Don’t f*ck with me.
Posted in Training
Friday, April 4th, 2008
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!
Posted in Nutrition, Other
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
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.
Posted in Training
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