Thoughts: Okay, I know this sounds completely ridiculous, but for the first time last night I truly realized and accepted that my body type is not really like my younger sister’s, despite superficial similarities like height (we are both 5′6″), torso length (long, in both of our cases), and, oh, common parentage. I’ve been spouting off for months in my blog and years in real life about my frame being larger than that of the other women in my family. I think the genes from both sides of my family are all dominant, so it’s a total genetic crap shoot every time another Wang baby is born to the family. About 80% of the time the gamble results in a slender, naturally lean ecto/meso types with small frames and an annoying ability to stay slim without watching food intake or walking within 50 feet of a gym. Let’s call them the “ascetic scholars.” The other 20% pops out like yours truly–meso/endo with the “stocky peasant” body type, LOL. Both types can put on muscle pretty easily, but the “stocky peasants” muscle up better than the “ascetic scholars” if they don’t allow their natural laziness and love of food get the better of them.

Anyhow, my Eureka moment came when I spliced a photo of lil’ sis from the end of her fall BFL challenge next to one of my recent progress photos. (Sorry…I’m not going to post the pic of lil’ sis without her permission.) When I looked at them objectively, I could see that with just a 10-12 lb scale weight difference, I was carrying a lot more muscle on a larger frame. Mind you, I’m not that big myself–right on the borderline between small and medium–but sis is smack dab in the middle of “small.”

For those of you familiar with fantasy literature, Everquest, or AD&D, she would be a high elf sorceress while I would be a half-elf ranger/fighter (or, in the words of my friend Jason, “built for battle”) in physical type.

I think that somewhere in the back of my mind I always thought that if I dropped down to my sister’s weight range that I’d have the same build and look. Heh. Really looking at those pics last night disabused me of this notion completely. We have the same waist measurement, but I am broader through the shoulders and ribs, and my quads and calves are carrying a lot more visible muscle. I will never be the stereotypical effortlessly slender and delicate Asian woman even if I cut down to 115 lbs, but I am okay with this now. I appreciate my body more and don’t take it for granted because I had to work my ass for it every step of the way.

Besides…what’s wrong with being a half-elf ranger anyway? Give me slick leather armor and a wide selection of ranged and melee weapons over a swishy wizard’s robe any day!

========
Nutrition (2000-2200 calorie maintenance day)
1: Strawberry banana smoothie with GNC creastack (EFL Rosemary chicken with broccoli and couscous)
2: 1/2 Thai chicken pasta salad (1/2 c. Kashi GoLean Crunch with 3/4 c. cottage cheese)
3: 1/2 c. strawberries, 1/4 c. Kashi GoLean Crunch and 3/4 c. cottage cheese
4: Catered meal at work: 1 1/2 c. Mushroom penne pasta, 1/3 c. baked beans, 3 holiday cookies, 3 oz. garlic herb haddock filet
5: (still digesting meal 4…blargh!)
6: 3×1 spinach omelette and navel orange (or something less bulky if I’m still feeling stuffed full of mushroom penne pasta)

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

Calories eaten / deficit for yesterday = 2171 / +160 (target 0)
Water: 16 cups
Ratios: 37% carb / 42% protein / 21% fat

========
Workout:
8:00 am Max-OT chest/shoulders/triceps

========
The Awful Truth:
1. Ate 3 cookies and too much pasta at dinner today.
2. Am feeling zero remorse about the above.
3. Will probably go get another cookie before I go home.
4. Am gleefully telling you all about my cookie-raiding plans now instead of fighting the impulse and showing the proper amounts of remorse and chagrin, LOL.

========
Brownie Points:
1. Finished my laundry
2. Stayed out of the GoLean Crunch last night.
3. Raised my tricep extension weight to 45 lbs with an EZ curl bar.

========
Short-term Goals:
1. Pick up some peanut butter to make bars.
2. Cook the soon-to-be-iffy bananas and veggies in my fridge before the Mold Monster comes knocking.