Thoughts: Hurray for water!

After chugging down an estimated 20 cups of water yesterday, I have managed to shed two of the unwanted pounds of water weight bloat that have been stubbornly clinging to me since last week. I’m back down to 134.8 lbs as of this morning in spite of three tasty but naughty slips into the company doughnut supply yesterday.

O toasted coconut doughnut, I love thee so!
Why canst thou not love my thighs a little less in return?

LOL. Okay, end of silly poetry interlude. I did notice that my pre-workout warm up run was GREAT this morning. Extra carbs do serve a purpose in my life. They make running almost enjoyable, or at the very least not so godawful.

My ancestors spent thousands of years surviving on one of the highest carb diets on earth in China and Taiwan. I would probably go nuts if I ever tried a true low-carb diet like Atkins. You just can’t shut off aeons of genetic programming like that. Even cutting out carbs in meals 5 and 6 made me crazy the next day for extra cereal, and my runs were tedious to the extreme. When I start cutting again, I will give Tom Venuto’s 50/30/20 diet a try just to see if the extra carbs will help me get through the added cardio without bonking out after 4 weeks. My buddy Jason up at Ravensoft recommended low carbing to me as a way to lean out quickly, but I couldn’t even hack a partial carb cut.

It’s my belief that successful, long-term low-carbers lack sweet tooths and/or hail from cultures in which meat featured prominently in the daily diet. Everyone else eventually falls off the low-carb wagon and gets run over by the wheels because their systems can’t adapt as well to the stress of such a protein and fat rich diet.

I’ve been asking for advice about the whole muscle gain process on two BFL Yahoo groups that I read regularly, women_on_body_for_life and Body for Life Women’s Club. I’ve gotten a handful of great responses, but for the most part it’s been very quiet. I don’t think that building mass is a popular activity for most women doing BFL! Isn’t that insane? Why WOULDN’T you want to have buff arms? Why else would you pick BFL over another diet plan if not for the lovely muscles on the After pics in the book? Sheesh…If I just wanted to be a lighter version of my pre-BFL self with the same (slightly smaller) pudgy arms and legs, I would have joined Weight Watchers or something and spent my mornings sleeping in instead of waking up at 6:30 am every day to bust my ass in the gym.

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Nutrition (1800-2000 calorie maintenance day)

1: Strawberry banana shake with GNC Creastack (Crispy treat protein bar)
2: Cajun haddock filet on spinach salad with apple (Strawberry banana
shake with GNC Creastack)
3: Cottage cheese and blueberries
4: Sara Lake chocolate cake
5: 1/2 TGI Friday’s Garlic chicken breast with sauteed veggies and mashed potato
6: 1/2 TGI Friday’s Garlic chicken breast with sauteed veggies and mashed potato

Supplements:
Multivitamin with iron
Calcium 500 + D
1 T. flax seed oil

Calories eaten / deficit for yesterday = 2373 / +626 (target 0)
Water: 20 cups
Ratios: 52% carb / 25% protein / 23% fat

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Workout:

8 am: Max-OT chest, shoulders, and triceps
10 pm: 20 minute yoga cd

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The Awful Truth:
1. Had THREE doughnuts yesterday! What was I thinking? Oh yeah…something like, “Mmmmm…blueberry cake… Nummmmmy…toasted coconut… Divine…French cruller!” Oh well, heh, them’s the breaks during this time of the month. Guess I’ll have to count those as one of my two free meals this week.

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Brownie Points:
1. Did 4 loads of laundry. W00t!
2. Made two batches of protein bars, one crispy treat and one apricot cheesecake.
3. Drank a ton of water.

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Short-term Goals:
1. Do the dishes.
2. Finish fixing the computers in my bedroom.
3. File the big stack o’ papers on my desk.
4. Mop the kitchen.