It’s strange how the mind works.

Kyra asked me yesterday about my list of forbidden foods below for the P&P challenge.

- Absolutely NO trigger foods in the form of candy, cakes, pies, brownies, cookies, doughnuts, chips, salted nuts or boxed cereal (including Kashi GoLean and GoLean Crunch) permitted for the duration of the challenge, including free meals, unless they are healthy homemade versions with the proper macronutrient ratios.

I am eliminating these personal trigger foods for the entire challenge, free meals included, which goes against the whole point of a “free” meal. Maybe having the option to have a brownie on free day works for some people, but I know myself well enough now to say that it’s a lot easier for me just to set down an official “NO sugary sweets” rule naming the specific items while I’m cutting rather than leaving things too loose and open-ended. When it comes to food, I play head games with myself, telling myself that if it isn’t specifically forbidden, I can still have a slice of cake with everyone else just as long as I account for it in my daily totals and don’t go over my calorie target. Since we all know that the quality of food is just as important as the calorie count, this sort of Weight Watchers mentality will only yield mediocre results.

By putting together a boycott list of the junky foods that provide the least nutritional bang for my caloric buck as well as the not-so-bad ones to which I have some inexplicable auto-munch affinity (i.e. cereal and nuts) and making it an official nutrition rule, I am eliminating the largest roadblock in my path. If it’s against the rules, I won’t go near a doughnut. If doughnuts aren’t specifically mentioned, I’m likely to have a French cruller and count it as a carb, LOL. General guidelines are good, but detailed rules are better. Just knowing that my P&P score will reset to ZERO after one bite of chocolate will keep me away, because nothing sucks worse than losing over a triviality. :crazy:

I didn’t have time to take a picture this morning, but I’ll snap some tonight. I won’t have the nice natural sunlight or the lovely morning dehydration that makes my abs look better, but who cares? This is a “before” picture. Maybe I’ll even puff out my stomach for a nice big buddha belly.

Nah. j/k :jester:

Starting measurements (in inches) are:
Shoulder 41.75
Chest 34.00
Waist 25.50
Abdomen 26.50
Hips 36.50
Thigh 22.50
Calf 14.75
Bicep (Unflexed) 11.75
Forearm 9.25

Unassisted Pull-ups: 3
(Will also take the P90X fit test tonight and post the rest of the results here.)

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Nutrition: 1700 calorie low zig zag day

1: 3×1 omelette, 1/3 c. (dry) oatmeal, 1 T. raisins
2: Peanut butter banana shake, 1/2 T. flaxseed oil
3: 3/4 c. FF cottage cheese and large navel orange
4: Peanut butter banana shake, 1/2 T. flaxseed oil
5: 3.5 oz. grilled pollock, 1 c. broccoli in oyster sauce, 3/4 c. rice
6: 2 oz roast beef, 1 med. tomato and 4 oz. sweet potato wedges

Total: 1631 calories, 45.7% carb, 35.7% protein, 19.6% fat

Daily Supplements: multivitamin with iron, calcium 500 + D, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Water: 16 cups minimum

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Workout:
9:00 AM P90X Kenpo X
8:00 PM Treadmill Run (6.0 mph / 0% incline / 30 minutes)
8:40 PM P90X Yoga X - 2nd half

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The Awful Truth:
1. Nothing! Woo!

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Brownie Points:
1. Day 7 of Official Office Candy Boycott. Am extending definition of “candy” to include cookies, cakes, doughnuts, pies and brownies, even on free day. Will save up free meals for stuff I really want–like mint choco chip ice cream and Donato’s personal size pizza with pepperoni, pineapple, and jalepeno peppers.
2. Knocked out legs/back/abs last night. Am already seeing some improvement in ab area from the 3x / week Ab Ripper routine.
3. Got two loads of laundry started this morning.
4. Down to 135.4 lbs from a bloated high of 140.8 lbs last Sunday morning. Eating clean and doing one’s workouts apparently cause weight loss. Go figure.

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Short-term Goals:
1. Finish design for P90X HanDbase module
2. Work on paper doll project.
3. Do thumbnails for 5-6 new prints.
4. Finish laundry.
5. Finish fairy girl print.
6. Pick up groceries.
7. Take challenge starting pics tonight.