Since I had a few tomatoes left I made a small batch of a recipe my mother was interested in. It came out the local paper and it’s called Tomato Jam. It’s a combination of tomatoes, sugar, lime juice and spices. I don’t know… not something I would ever take, although I worked out the macros and it’s lower cal than jam. It’s meant to be a savory spread on bread or an condiment for meat and/or fish. I ended up making it into 4 x 1/2-cup jars and sterilized them as well.

Other than a little laundry and a swim I think that was it for the day. Tomorrow I’m really trying for a true rest day. A little organization and I might colour my hair. It’s probably pushing it as I should wait a few days but it seems like a good time to get it done.

Food for the day:

Total: 1991 (30% fat, 32% carbs, 35% protein)

Breakfast: two fried eggs, zucchini bread, jam, peach (359)
AM Snack: zucchini snack cake (92)
Lunch: whole wheat tortillas, mustard, smoked turkey, cheese, nectarine (447)
PM Snack: zucchini snack cake(2), fruit & nut square (257)
Dinner: roasted onions/tomatoes/cauliflower, parmesan cheese, smoked chicken & turkey sausages, salad w/dressing (552)
Late Snack: protein shake with frozen blackberries (284)

Total: 2005 (34% fat, 32% carbs, 33% protein)

Breakfast: egg white omelet with cheese, zucchini bread, jam, peaches (346)
AM Snack: fruit & nut squares (147)
Lunch: whole wheat tortilla, turkey meatloaf, salsa, cheese, nectarine (427)
PM Snack: hummus, carrots, zucchini snack cake (211)
Dinner: hamburgers(2), condiments, edamame, salad w/dressing (692)
Late Snack: protein shake, peach (183)

I’m basically just having a bad day today. I did my walking in 20 min shots as my right leg was just killing me. The blistered skin is off my right heel (it was the left I was having troubles with before), although it’s clean and dry. So I think I’m going to take a rest break until Tuesday afternoon. I’m going to start Power Training’s Strength training workout. I did look at the general fitness one, but decided I liked the lower reps for the strength training section. I like like Jane is doing I’ll do 5xA and 5xB workouts, which will take me a little over 3 weeks. So when I log them I’ll just log them as Stage 1, 2, 3 and 4 instead of using week numbers. In the end it will be 40 workouts, but I will take my rest/maintenance break when I had planned to (which should let me get 12 workouts done first).

I spent some time picking movements for the first stage, although I’ll double-check them all before next week. Now it’s just a case of making up some logs and picking some starting weights.

I don’t know where the day went. I zipped through logs and blogs on fast forward. I think I’m trying to stay away from the computer (ie. sitting down) and that just kind of forces me in the late evening to sit down for longer. Sigh…

Anyway, I had to split up the cardio this morning as my leg/foot was killing me. Oddly enough it was usually my right foot/left leg. The foot is still bugging me tonight and the muscles around both knees feel tight. So nothing but gardening and walking around until Tuesday night when I start Power Training. Yikes, that means 4 lower calorie days in a row.

After the walking this morning I spent most of the morning (and part of the afternoon) trying to put the pussy willow back into some semblance of order. I cut it back hard last year (perhaps too hard) and it’s got a lot of soft growth. That wouldn’t be so bad but I’ve got a number of dead branches in the middle of it. So I cut out part of the center today to see if it’s an air flow issue or not. We’ll see how it winters. The silly thing is that it was put in to attract bees to the garden in early spring… to pollinate the apricot tree we took out last year. So although I hope it’s just a minor issue, it’s not a catastrophe if it had to be cut down. Although, a lot of work!

From the HR monitor:

Food for the day:

Total: 2147 (31% fat, 31% carbs, 32% protein)

Breakfast: two fried eggs, zucchini bread, jam, peaches (436)
AM Snack: fruit & nut square, blueberry bran muffins (272)
Lunch: whole wheat tortilla, eye of round roast, cheese, peaches (404)
PM Snack: hummus, carrots, jack daniels & lemonade (205)
Dinner: grilled lamb chops & sausage, bean/carrot mix, butter, salad w/dressing (578)
Late Snack: protein shake, peaches (251)

Food for the day:

Total: 2306 (25% fat, 35% carbs, 36% protein)

Breakfast: egg/egg white omelet with cheese, honey oatmeal bread, nectarine (382)
AM Snack: protein shake with frozen blackberries/raspberries (284)
Lunch: whole wheat tortilla, bbq pork, cheese, peach (424)
PM Snack: hummus, carrots, flatbread, jack daniels & lemonade (300)
Dinner: roasted tomatoes/cauliflower/onion with pasta, parmesan cheese, chicken & turkey sausage, salad w/dressing (677)
Late Snack: protein shake, canned peaches (240)

I highlighted the peaches there because these were the ones that I canned.  I did two different types.  Some were in cherry juice (the one I opened today) and the rest were in a very light sugar syrup (calorie-wise about the same as canning in juice).  They were really quite nice, although the cherry juice made then a touch tart.  I think next year I’ll likely just do them all in the light sugar syrup (or find and try another juice).

A: Barbell Deadlift - 100t/8, 100t/8
B1: Static Lunge, rear foot elevated - 20e/15, 20e/15, 20e/15, 20e/15
B2: Push-up - 15, 15, 15, 15
B3: Barbell Romanian Deadlift - 80t/15, 80t/15, 80t/15, 80t/15
B4: Dumbbell Bent-Over Row - 25e/15, 25e/15, 25e/15, 25e/15

35 mins total, same as the other workouts, I think I’m pushing the rest periods out a little.

HR Monitor: 276 cals, Max 165 (93%), Min 139 (78%)

I marked the deadlifts as a PR since I looked back and the highest I got was 75lbs for 8 reps. Same with the RDL, although I did go higher on the RDL/Bent-over row combo in stage 5 - it was for 4 reps. In this case it was the only one of the four that I felt I could manage to bump up from workout #1.

I’m still struggling with workout days when I go back to school. As long as I keep the weights workouts to under an hour I can probably manage Tues PM, Thurs AM, and Sat AM without a problem. It’s working in the cardio that’s starting to become a pain. Physically I do better with 3-days on, 1-day off, 2 days-on, 1 day off. The only way that would work is:

Mon - rest day
Tue - weights
Wed - cardio
Thu - weights
Fri - rest day
Sat - weights
Sun - cardio

It looks fine, but what it means is that my two clear days (Sun/Wed) I’m now doing cardio. I usually like to have one clear day for other stuff (errands and such) but Monday is such a pain for scheduling. With classes that day not ending until 6pm I won’t be home until 6:45-7pm. I still wouldn’t mind a swim… and that means a late dinner. None of this would be such a problem except for an 8am class on Tuesday morning (ie. leaving at 7am, up ~6-6:30). So I think I pretty much have to bite the bullet and keep the schedule above.

The funny thing is (not on purpose) that option means that there is really no way to take advantage of the equipment at the school. I haven’t gone into the fitness center but I can’t figure out a routine that works. I’m toying with the idea of something like this, as I wouldn’t mind working on something like a stairmaster or step/mill as I still think climbing stairs is a weak spot physically:

Mon - rest day
Tue - weights
Wed - rest day / ‘make-up’ cardio
Thu - weights / 30-45 mins cardio
Fri - 30-45 mins cardio
Sat - weights
Sun - rest day / ‘make-up’ cardio

ie. doing 30 mins of cardio on Wednesday morning, seeing what I can get done during my 2-hr breaks on Thurs/Fri and then making sure I’ve hit 120mins on Sunday. So if I’ve been good during the week I’ll get Sun/Mon off and a pretty light day on Wed. I’ll probably take some time on Tuesday and go into the fitness center on my way home.

I understand there’s some kind of form I’ll need to fill out (and they’ll determine if I need a doctor’s certificate to use the center). Are we taking bets that my weight alone will mean I’ll need one? I’m pretty aware of my fitness level, have worked out up to my maximum heart rate. When I do HIIT I regularly hit over 170 (my theoretical max is 178). I’m waiting to see what happens but I know how people judge the morbidly obese on sight. 

The weather was so lovely today. In fact tonight is still a lovely evening. I think we’ve got another good day coming before either it rains and/or gets cold. I spent a fair amount of the morning outside trimming up the pots and still managed to get a swim in before heading off for dinner.

Total: 2005 (32% fat, 34% carbs, 35% protein)

Breakfast: protein pancakes, jam, peach (368)
AM Snack: none (0)
Lunch: smoked turkey, hummus, carrots, nectarine (330)
PM Snack: protein shake with frozen blackberries (284)
Dinner: open-faced hamburger with bacon/cheese, salad w/dressing (914)
Late Snack: nectarine, peach (109)

Tonight I’m going to try making it an early night as my sleep has been a little interrupted the last couple of nights.

Food for the day:

Total: 2308 (28% fat, 37% carbs, 33% protein)

Breakfast: egg/egg white omelet with cheese, honey oatmeal bread, peach (462)
AM Snack: protein shake with frozen blackberries (242)
Lunch: whole wheat tortilla, bbq pork, cheese, nectarine (416)
PM Snack: hummus, carrots, flatbread (256)
Dinner: chili with cheese, multigrain tostidos, salad w/dressing (681)
Late Snack: protein shake, peach (251)

• calories per day: 2290, hr monitor: 7162 cals total
• treadmill: 2h 0m , strength training: 14h 50m
• walking outside: 5h 0m
• avg daily exercise: 42 mins (231 cals per day)
• weight lost: 8.8 pounds

Now I need to think about goals for next month. I don’t set weight lost goals, as I feel I would be disappointed if I didn’t meet them. I try and set goals that will push me, but I can control if they are attainable. Although you can do certain things to help, you can’t force your body to lose weight on a schedule. So, on to the goals for next month.

• Eat within plan every day (2300 lifting days, 2150 cardio days, 2000 rest days)
• Drink water every day (18 cups min.)
• Exercise (60 mins cardio 2 days, 60 mins strength training 3 days)

I bit the bullet and lowered the daily calories a bit. I decided at least for the first few weeks of school I had to cut them back (in case I don’t get the cardio in). I’m not sure if I’ll move less or more than I do now. I have found out that I can carry the watch part of the HR monitor in my purse and get a pretty decent reading. I don’t care about wearing the watch (ie. people seeing it), however, it kind of bugs me when I wear it all day. This is because I don’t wear a watch at other times.

I haven’t defined which days I’m going to workout, but at the moment the plan is (after next week) to lift Tues(PM), Thurs(AM), Sat(AM). Depending on the facilities the college has I might do some cardio there. The only days I really have time is Thurs(12-2) and Fri(12-2). I doubt, even with a 2 hour break though that I’ll get 60 mins of cardio in as I rarely do it as 1×60min stretch. So I’ll see how the schedule goes and see what I can work out. It might work out better to do the cardio on Wed/Sun - days I don’t need to be at the school, but we’ll see. I’d love to leave one of them as a complete rest day so if/when the garden chores need to be done for the fall I have a clear day to do it. On the first day of October I’ll take a look at these and see how I’ve done. Wish me luck!

Kind of a lazy day after the walking this morning. I did do a little work outside, but definitely a low key day. Touched base with a friend tonight and I’ll go have dinner with her on Tuesday night. I realized how anti-social I’ve been this summer as I haven’t talked to her since before I got my college acceptance. She knew I had applied, but not what the result was.

From the HR monitor:

Food for the day:

Total: 2407 (26% fat, 36% carbs, 33% protein)

Breakfast: protein pancakes, jam, peach (345)
AM Snack: blueberry bran muffins (198)
Lunch: whole wheat tortillas, turkey meatloaf, salsa, cheese, nectarine (511)
PM Snack: cheese ball, flatbread, jack daniels & lemonade (276)
Dinner: sirloin steak, corn, butter, salad w/dressing (882)
Late Snack: protein shake, peach (195)