Thoughts: I’m back on the fat loss/cutting warpath 100% this week. I took an honest assessment of my habits and work schedule this weekend and decided that the only way I can make the extra cardio work is if I reserve my morning workout time for a full 50-60 minute block of cardio–a combo of 20-30 minutes of running with a mix of elliptical/bike/rowing to fill in the rest of the time. I hate cardio so much that I’d only be setting myself up for failure by scheduling my extra sessions after a full 12 hours at work. Sweating at the end of the day is anathema to me.

I will do cardio fasted (empty stomach) Mon-Sat to maximize fat burning, and then on M/W/F I will do my weight training either at lunch or after work to give myself some time to replenish my muscles with at least one meal after cardio.

Nutritionwise, I am going to follow the Leanness Lifestyle zigzag as much as possible.

1584 | 1426 | 1584 | 1426 | 1584 | 1980 | 1584

The mid-range 1584 calories will fall on M/W/F (lifting days) and be met with the addition of a post-workout whey/dextrose/creatine/glutamine shake, while the two lower 1426 days will be my normal set of 6 meals at around 200-250 calories each. Saturday will be my day for my two authorized splurge meals, will have a max of 1980 calories. My exercise minutes per week will be around 500 total between the cardio and weight training I’ve got planned.

The next 3-6 weeks are going to be an experiment to test the effectiveness of pure LL as written instead of my previous half BFL version.

In other news, I’ll be doing very little HIIT on the treadmill this week as I want to concentrate on getting ready for the 5k race on Saturday morning. I’ll be doing a lot more of my running outdoors with a focus on getting my body used to a nice, steady rhythm and pace while running on road surfaces. I did my first outdoor run in a while this morning and came in at 16:00.47 for two miles, my fastest two mile run time ever.

Maybe it won’t take me a full 30 minutes to do the 5k after all!

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Nutrition (1584 calorie mid-range zigzag day)
1: 3×1 omelette with salsa and 1/3 c. (dry) oatmeal
2: Oatmeal tuna spinach salad with apple; 1 slice Roman Meal Carb Aware WW bread with SF apricot preserves
3: 3/4 c. FF cottage cheese, 3/4 c. strawberries, 2 slices Roman Meal Carb Aware WW bread with SF apricot preserves and 1.5 oz. chicken breast
4: 3/4 c. FF cottage cheese and 3/4 c. strawberries
5: Banana berry smoothie with 1 t. GNC Creastack
6: 2 slices Roman Meal Carb Aware WW bread with SF apricot preserves and 1/2 T. nat. peanut butter; 1/3 banana bread; 1/3 serving spicy cottage cheese patty

Supplements:
Multivitamin with iron
Calcium 500 + D
1 T. flax seed oil
1 t. GNC Creastack (5 g creatine, 2 g l-glutamine, and phosphates)

Calories eaten / deficit for yesterday = na / na (target -538)
Water: 10 cups
Ratios: na

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Workout
8:00 am - 2 mile run (16:00.47) with 1/2 mile warm up (3:58)
8:30 am - recumbent bike (level 3 / ~70-80 rpms / 40 minutes)
3:00 pm - 1 mile walk (4 mph / 15 min)
8:00 pm - Oxygen LBWO at Gold’s; pull-up training

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The Awful Truth:
1. Superbowl Sunday was NOT a good day for healthy eating, hah!

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Brownie Points:
1. Finished my 2 mile run in 16 minutes!

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Short-term Goals:
1. Get all of my workouts in this week.
2. Organize my desk and drafting table.