Thoughts: All right, I can’t stand it anymore. After logging my food, workouts, and thoughts daily for nearly 6 months (I posted daily during my first BFL challenge on the Body for Life Women MSN Group), I just can’t quit cold turkey, it seems. Daily posts are back on as of today. I might skip weekends, though. Read at own risk.

I’m officially ditching the hardcore cutting plan for now due to time constraints at work. I was at the office from 10 am - midnight yesterday, and things aren’t going to change very much for the next two months. Two gym sessions a day just aren’t possible right now unless I want to function on just 5 hours of sleep a night. I’ll give it a go during my week of holiday vacation next week, but after that, I’m doing version 3 of my mini-challenge plan posted last week:

- Maintenance level calories on weight training days (M, W, F) and Saturday (free meal day) at around 1800-2000 calories
- Low calorie days on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday at 1400-1600 calories.
- Extra cardio only on HIIT days, 30 minutes of steady state in addition to the 20 minute HIIT run and 1 hour tai chi class
- Weight training on M, W, F using Max-OT routines; optional 45-60 minute ballet, yoga, or tai chi workout tape in the evening if time permits (I also picked up a jumprope at Sears this weekend while Christmas shopping, so I might give this a whirl at home.)

I won’t lie; getting to eat 2 or 3 extra portions a day is NICE, especially when I can bask in the happy knowledge that those high calorie days are fueling muscle growth and recovery while not adding a single tenth of a point to my body fat percentage. This morning’s check put me at 132 lbs and still 17.25% body fat. My measurements are holding steady as well, which is pretty good evidence that ~2000 calories, 132 lbs, and 17-18% body fat are maintenance level setpoint stats for me as long as I am lifting weights for 30-50 minutes three times a week and doing 40 minutes of cardio and an hour of low impact tai chi on alternating days.

I can’t even begin to describe how gleeful this makes me feel. When I first started BFL back on May 31, 2004, I couldn’t even stomach my sixth meal. It just seemed like so much food to me, even though the total calories were pretty low at around 1300 a day. After a few weeks, meal 6 became normal. Ever since my month of extra cardio and low calories, though, whew…I am ravenously hungry at night if I drop below 1400 calories. Turkey Week’s 2000-2200 calorie average didn’t help, either. Somehow, I think that the Extra Cardio Experiment and the Turkey Week Debacle have basically put my metabolism into high gear.

Sometimes knowing exactly how many calories are in each of your meals can work against you, because your brain will tell you that you are being deprived on a 1300 calorie/day menu and encourage you to have some extra food even when your stomach is completely satisfied.

Anyway, tomorrow is cardio day, and I may just give my new jumprope a try for the steady-state portion of my workout. I haven’t jump-roped (jumped rope?) since elementary school, though, so I might just chicken out of doing it at the gym until I can get some practice in the privacy of my own apartment balcony.

I’ll go back on a cutting diet and workout routine a la Leanness Lifestyle around March 1, 2005. Until then, I’m focusing on maintaining my weight between 128-135 lbs while increasing lean body mass as much as possible. Losing weight is easy; letting go of the irrational fear of getting fat again so one can actually eat enough to gain muscle is oddly difficult.

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Nutrition (1800-2000 calorie high zigzag day)
1: Chocolate banana shake with GNC Creastack (x 2)
2: Hong Kong beef noodles with snow peas, bean sprouts, spinach, and portabella mushrooms (Crispy treat protein bar)
3: Sara Lake’s chocolate cake
4: Blackberry cheesecake bar
5: 1/2 Uno’s house salad with grilled lemon pepper salmon and balsamic vinaigrette; apple
6: 1/2 Uno’s house salad with grilled lemon pepper salmon and balsamic vinaigrette; tangerine

Supplements:
Multivitamin with iron
Calcium 500 + D
1 T. flax seed oil
1/2 t. GNC Creastack

Calories eaten / deficit for yesterday = 1899 / -116 (target -500)
Water: 14 cups
Ratios: 41% carb / 35% protein / 24% fat

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Workout:
8:00 AM Back/Biceps/Abs Max-OT workout

BACK
Cable Pull Downs - Front: 105 lbs, 6 reps/2 sets
Seated Cable Rows - 105 lbs, 6 reps/2 sets
Bent Over Barbell Rows - 40 lbs, 6 reps/2 sets

BICEPS
Alt. Dumbbell Curls - 20 lbs, 6 reps/1 set; 25 lbs, 6 reps/1 set
Straight Bar Curls - 40 lbs, 6 reps/2 sets

ABS
Leg Raises - 12 reps/2 sets
Decline Crunches - 12 reps/2 sets

Push-ups (Regular) - 20 reps just for the hell of it

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The Awful Truth:
1. When am I going to learn that I can’t have any cereal besides All-Bran in my apartment? I dug into some rice crispies last night after I got home from work at 12 am.

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Brownie Points:
1. Ran the 1 mile loop around my office complex today instead of walking. 1 mile time = 6:02 minutes. (New one mile record for me! W00t!)

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Short-term Goals:
1. Prepare a mass quantity of Thai peanut dressing for chicken salads.
2. Bake banana bread from Oxygen Magazine recipe using Atkins low carb bake mix and a few of the scary black bananas on kitchen counter.