Operation master mind- update
It’s all going well.
I’ve been meditating every morning this week for 20 minutes and it’s really helping me focus and be in the moment throughout the day. My lifts have been stronger too. Yesterday I decided to throw the calorie counting out the window and trust what I know along with trying to implement a no snacking/grazing rule. This idea was re-affirmed after reading Liz’s blog post where she said something along the lines of it’s not the occasional dirty meal that will ruin her diet it’s the bad habits. My bad habits are grazing (mainly things like almonds and peanuts add up), eating too much, and emotionally eating where I tell myself I’ve worked hard or had a tough day and I deserve it. By not having a set meal plan, rather 4 set meals (breakfast 8am, 11am pre-workout, 1pm lunch and dinner 7pm) plus either some cottage cheese or yoghurt with protein powder in the arvo gap I think I can swing through things easier without feeling deprived. Every meal will of course have a lean protein source. My breaky will include my high fibre cereal to keep things moving and from there on out I’ll try to get at least 1 cup of mainly green vegies with each meal "lean and green" along with a lean protein and good fat. After my workout I’ll remove the fat and put in some cheap carb instead. No more weighing food (except maybe fats to check I’m not going crazy) and I’ll keep an eye on the scales.
I’m even thinking I might eat a little more rice and pasta in my diet, though right now they make me feel gross.
Yesterday was a perfect test case for this to be my February resolution. I had a delicious breakfast of quark, cereal, strawberries and pecans with a bit of milk on top and a milkier double macchiatto. Then meditated (coffee before meditation is out now!), walked the dog for 30 minutes, got heaps of work done before chewing down a grilled chicken, salad and avocado rye wrap and hitting the gym where I felt madly powerful. I did 10 minutes warmup on the ellipticle then powered through 6 sets of squats setting a new PR and 5 sets of deads. I then decided I’d challenge myself with long intervals. 30secs on 30secs off, I nailed them easy, running faster than I have for that amount of time quite comfortably (6.6km/hr walk, 13.3km/hr run). I did a quick cooldown and hit the shower. The second I got out the shower I started dripping sweat, darn intervals. I walked to get lunch with a friend at the markets and ate cold rolls and Vietnamese beef salad
with extra veg, which was way filling but good and clean, I didn’t even finish it all off!
I managed to phsyc myself up enough to go and drop of CV’s to some of my favourite stall holders in the hope they might hire me, therefor making me a professional foodie rather than an amateur one. I got to meet some great people, and who knows I might be pimping coffee before the day is out. My only indiscretion was a few pieces of carob coated ginger in the health food shop, but I ate half and put the other half away in the back of the cupboard when I got home. CK says it was only a 60cal slip so I’m happy.
I got a few more must do tasks done in the arvo before a friend rang to ask me if I wanted to come to check out the last days of the sales with her. My empty bank account screamed no, but she won’t be in town much longer so I went. DJ’s was having a bra sale and I managed to pick up a really great sports bra, without an underwire to shred my chest, for $25. This only screwed my exceptionally tight budget slightly but was pretty necessary as I want to really up my cardio this month and bleeding from the chest is gross. We walked around until nearly 7 and I was starting to feel pretty faint and gross by the end of it. Luckily, I rang the boy in a panic and managed to get him to make a start on dinner. Homemade pasta lasagne, not the best choice but he loves his pasta so I try to squeeze it in once a week. We used nice lean topside mince and ended up only using 1/3 of the dough we made which would have taken a nice bit out of the carbs I thought I’d be getting. I assembled it when I got home, making what I’d calculated to be not a total blowout for 2 people. When I served it I thought I’d give us a 3rd each and see if we were still hungry after. Both of us inhaled it pretty mindlessly but then ‘the boy’ saved us both by calling the remaining 3rd as his lunch. Nice.
At the end of the day, old habits die hard, and I had to sit down and punch everything into calorie king. I was actually 100 cals under and pretty good on macros so I rewarded myself with one more bit of carob ginger, drank a mountain of water and went to bed. As predicted I slept pretty badly due to the pasta feeling like concrete in my guts. I really don’t like this physical intollerance for pasta and rice!
Tonight my boy’s taking me for dinner and a movie 
. We’re going for Thai/Cambodian in North Adelaide and I’ve got my heart set on the Amok Trei, a steamed fish dish with lots of coconut cream on cabbage. I’ll fit it in somehow, and enjoy it while I do. The big challenge will be to stop and get it to takeaway.
Here’s to February, the month of Freedom and Focus
