Thoughts: Okay, I’m officially changing my wake up time to 6:30 am instead of 6, because I keep going to bed at midnight, and my natural sleep cycle is 6.5 hours. Trying to drag myself up 30 minutes shy of my required sleep quantity is not working; I just hit snooze and wind up getting up at 7!

Anyhow, I got to the gym this morning for lower body weights, and one of the staff personal trainers at Gold’s actually complimented me on my form in squats. He was probably just trying to butter me up and get me sign up for some paid sessions, but it was still a nice ego boost. I raised my weights in just about all of my LBWO exercises today, and have the feeling that I could definitely go higher in squats next time. I think it’s time to switch from dbells to either a Smith machine or an Olympic barbell rack.

I chugged down my creatine this morning along with half of my breakfast shake (which also contained my flax oil for the day), and decided it wasn’t so bad after all. I’m still getting a weird tightening sensation at the base of my skull when I first drink it, but it goes away after 10 minutes. Weird…I hope that isn’t a bad sign. We’ll see if there’s any improvement in my wimpy incline bicep curls on Monday. I usually hit muscle failure in my 4th set of 6 reps at 12.5 lbs around rep #4. If I can finish it off, I’ll call the Great Creatine Experiment a success.

One more thing…it’s “Eat like Maggie” Day at my office today. Two of my co-workers who are thinking about getting back into shape are going to eat three BFL style meals with me to see if they can handle the type of food I eat. So far they’ve had a lunch of Thai chicken pasta salads, and still have two more meals to go. Meal 1 went over pretty well; both of them were surprised at how much food they got to have.

They will be assimilated…it’s only a matter a time.

========
Nutrition (1200-1400 low zig-zag day)
1: Chocolate banana shake
2: Thai chicken pasta
3: Chocolate banana shake
4: Strawberry raisin walnut bar
5: Kung Pao chicken and brown rice
6: Cottage cheese and grapes

Supplements:
Multivitamin with iron
Calcium 500 + D
1 t. safflower oil with meal5
1 T. flax seed oil in shakes
1 serving of GNC Creastack (5 g creatine, 2 g l-glutamine, plus phosphates)

Calories eaten and deficit for yesterday = 1863/ -30 (target -337)
Water: 10 cups
Ratios: 38% carb / 40% protein / 22% fat

========
Workout:
8:20 am LBWO at the gym

========
The Awful Truth:
1. Ate 7 plain M&Ms at work.
2. Had about 1/2 c. of unauthorized Honey Bunches of Oats with Almond cereal
3. Had a shake with a side of broccoli instead of the planned Kung Pao chicken last night
4. Subbed strawberry banana shakes for the planned chocolate banana because I figured the fruit punch-flavored Creastack would be less horrible in a fruity shake.

========
Brownie Points:
1. Prepared a LOT of meals last night–Thai chicken pasta, lots of brown rice, KP chicken, new batch of nutrition bars, and 4 fresh shakes.
2. Am doing an “Eat Like Maggie” day at work with my two female co-workers who are trying to lose weight. They will eat three BFL meals with me (that’s why I made so much food last night), and hopefully decide to get on the program, too.
3. Did all of the dishes after I cooked…Don’t laugh, this is one of my major areas of laziness.

========
Short-term Goals:
1. Get some more tuna from the grocery store in case Hurricane Ivan hits my part of Florida.
2. Do the laundry.
3. Plan out new store area for my gallery site.